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 15, 2012 at 14:56:00 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 15, 2012 at 14:56:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	1° 49'	South
Longitude:	42° 05'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 463.69 meters/second, 1669.3 km/hour, 1037.2 miles/hour or 901.3 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"	17.29 mi	west	0° 00' 01.0"	0.02 mi	north	17.29 mi
1 hour	15° 00' 10.6"	1037.32 mi	west	0° 00' 59.2"	1.13 mi	north	1037.32 mi
24 hours	0° 04' 16.1"	4.92 mi	west	0° 23' 42.9"	27.16 mi	north	27.60 mi

Position of the Moon

On Thursday, March 15, 2012 at 14:56:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	21° 19'	South
Longitude:	125° 07'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 415.96 meters/second, 1497.5 km/hour, 930.5 miles/hour or 808.6 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' 25.9"	15.51 mi	west	0° 00' 03.3"	0.06 mi	north	15.51 mi
1 hour	14° 26' 01.8"	930.25 mi	west	0° 03' 27.5"	3.97 mi	north	930.44 mi
24 hours	13° 17' 02.8"	856.20 mi	east	1° 56' 15.1"	133.30 mi	north	871.90 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
Parnaíba	Thu 11:56 AM	132 km	82 miles	71 nm	SSE
Fortaleza	Thu 11:56 AM	444 km	276 miles	240 nm	ESE
Belém	Thu 11:56 AM	713 km	443 miles	385 nm	W
Recife	Thu 11:56 AM	1058 km	658 miles	571 nm	SE
Salvador	Thu 11:56 AM	1296 km	805 miles	700 nm	SSE
Cayenne	Thu 11:56 AM	1362 km	846 miles	736 nm	WNW
Brasilia	Thu 11:56 AM	1672 km	1039 miles	903 nm	SSW
Paramaribo	Thu 11:56 AM	1682 km	1045 miles	908 nm	WNW
Manaus	Thu 10:56 AM	2000 km	1243 miles	1080 nm	W
Georgetown	Thu 10:56 AM	2025 km	1258 miles	1094 nm	WNW