Day and Night World Map

The map below shows the current position of the Sun and the Moon. It shows which parts of the Earth are in daylight and which are in night.

See where the moon is over the horizon

Map notes

• The day and night parts of the Earth shown are as of Thursday, March 8, 2012 at 22:36:00 UTC.
• The Sun's position is marked with this symbol: . At this location, the Sun will be at its zenith (directly overhead) in relation to an observer.
• The Moon's position is marked with this symbol: . At this location, the Moon will be at its zenith in relation to an observer. Note that the symbol is not showing the current phase of the Moon.
• Different shades of darkness are used to indicate night; these shades are in order from lightest to darkest:
  • Civil Twilight (lightest shade)
  • Nautical Twilight
  • Astronomical Twilight
  • Night, no twilight (darkest)
• Latitude circles
  • NPC – Northern Polar Circle, or Arctic Circle, is at latitude 66°34' N. At locations north of the Arctic Circle, the Sun is visible all day and night during a period before and after the June solstice.
  • NT – Northern Tropic, or Tropic of Cancer, is at latitude 23°26' N and is the northernmost latitude at which the Sun can be directly overhead (this occurs during June solstice, around June 21).
  • ST – Southern Tropic, or Tropic of Capricorn, is at latitude 23°26' S and is the southernmost latitude at which the Sun can be directly overhead (this occurs during December solstice, around December 21).
  • SPC – Southern Polar Circle, or Antarctic Circle, is at latitude 66°34' S. South of this latitude, the Sun is visible all day and night during summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
• Map is generated based on images from NASA

Position of the Sun

On Thursday, March 8, 2012 at 22:36:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	4° 27'	South
Longitude:	156° 38'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 462.53 meters/second, 1665.1 km/hour, 1034.6 miles/hour or 899.1 knots.The table below shows the Sun position compared to the time and date above:

Time	Longitude difference			Latitude difference			Total
later	Degrees	Distance	Direction	Degrees	Distance	Direction	Distance
1 minute	0° 15' 00.1"	17.25 mi	west	0° 00' 01.0"	0.02 mi	north	17.25 mi
1 hour	15° 00' 09.4"	1034.70 mi	west	0° 00' 58.7"	1.12 mi	north	1034.71 mi
24 hours	0° 03' 49.9"	4.41 mi	west	0° 23' 29.3"	26.90 mi	north	27.26 mi

Position of the Moon

On Thursday, March 8, 2012 at 22:36:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	2° 52'	South
Longitude:	28° 16'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 446.99 meters/second, 1609.1 km/hour, 999.9 miles/hour or 868.9 knots.The table below shows the Moon position compared to the time and date above:

Time	Longitude difference			Latitude difference			Total
later	Degrees	Distance	Direction	Degrees	Distance	Direction	Distance
1 minute	0° 14' 28.2"	16.66 mi	west	0° 00' 13.7"	0.26 mi	south	16.67 mi
1 hour	14° 28' 16.0"	999.80 mi	west	0° 13' 43.0"	15.71 mi	south	999.82 mi
24 hours	12° 51' 21.0"	888.20 mi	east	5° 22' 36.4"	369.49 mi	south	958.87 mi

Locations with the Sun near zenith

The following table shows 10 locations with Sun near zenith position in the sky.

Location	Local time	Distance			Direction
Kiritimati	Fri 12:36 PM	702 km	436 miles	379 nm	N
Papeete	Thu 12:36 PM	1640 km	1019 miles	886 nm	SSE
Fakaofo	Fri 11:36 AM	1702 km	1058 miles	919 nm	WSW
Rarotonga	Thu 12:36 PM	1888 km	1173 miles	1019 nm	S
Apia *	Fri 12:36 PM	1959 km	1217 miles	1058 nm	WSW
Alofi	Thu 11:36 AM	2166 km	1346 miles	1170 nm	SW
Baker Island	Thu 10:36 AM	2266 km	1408 miles	1223 nm	WNW
Funafuti	Fri 10:36 AM	2708 km	1683 miles	1462 nm	W
Nukualofa	Fri 11:36 AM	2727 km	1695 miles	1473 nm	SW
Honolulu	Thu 12:36 PM	2852 km	1772 miles	1540 nm	N