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 18:00:00 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 18:00:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	1° 46'	South
Longitude:	88° 06'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 463.70 meters/second, 1669.3 km/hour, 1037.3 miles/hour or 901.4 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"	1037.34 mi	west	0° 00' 59.2"	1.13 mi	north	1037.35 mi
24 hours	0° 04' 16.4"	4.93 mi	west	0° 23' 43.0"	27.16 mi	north	27.61 mi

Position of the Moon

On Thursday, March 15, 2012 at 18:00:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	21° 08'	South
Longitude:	169° 23'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 416.57 meters/second, 1499.6 km/hour, 931.8 miles/hour or 809.7 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' 26.1"	15.53 mi	west	0° 00' 03.7"	0.07 mi	north	15.53 mi
1 hour	14° 26' 13.1"	931.61 mi	west	0° 03' 50.7"	4.41 mi	north	931.82 mi
24 hours	13° 11' 59.0"	851.82 mi	east	2° 04' 45.1"	143.04 mi	north	869.42 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
Galapagos Islands	Thu 12:00 Noon	193 km	120 miles	104 nm	WNW
Guayaquil	Thu 1:00 PM	913 km	567 miles	493 nm	E
Quito	Thu 1:00 PM	1081 km	672 miles	584 nm	E
San Jose	Thu 12:00 Noon	1368 km	850 miles	739 nm	NNE
Cali	Thu 1:00 PM	1411 km	877 miles	762 nm	ENE
Panama	Thu 1:00 PM	1523 km	946 miles	822 nm	NE
Managua	Thu 12:00 Noon	1552 km	964 miles	838 nm	N
Medellin	Thu 1:00 PM	1647 km	1024 miles	890 nm	ENE
Lima	Thu 1:00 PM	1669 km	1037 miles	901 nm	SE
Bogota	Thu 1:00 PM	1712 km	1064 miles	924 nm	ENE