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 21:58:00 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 21:58:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	1° 42'	South
Longitude:	147° 36'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 463.72 meters/second, 1669.4 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"	1037.38 mi	west	0° 00' 59.2"	1.13 mi	north	1037.39 mi
24 hours	0° 04' 16.9"	4.94 mi	west	0° 23' 43.1"	27.16 mi	north	27.61 mi

Position of the Moon

On Thursday, March 15, 2012 at 21:58:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	20° 52'	South
Longitude:	133° 20'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 417.43 meters/second, 1502.8 km/hour, 933.8 miles/hour or 811.4 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' 26.3"	15.56 mi	west	0° 00' 04.2"	0.08 mi	north	15.56 mi
1 hour	14° 26' 28.5"	933.54 mi	west	0° 04' 19.9"	4.97 mi	north	933.78 mi
24 hours	13° 05' 16.6"	846.11 mi	east	2° 15' 25.2"	155.26 mi	north	866.24 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 11:58 AM	1152 km	716 miles	622 nm	WNW
Papeete	Thu 11:58 AM	1764 km	1096 miles	953 nm	S
Rarotonga	Thu 11:58 AM	2532 km	1574 miles	1367 nm	SSW
Fakaofo	Fri 10:58 AM	2750 km	1709 miles	1485 nm	WSW
Honolulu	Thu 11:58 AM	2780 km	1727 miles	1501 nm	NNW
Apia *	Fri 11:58 AM	2979 km	1851 miles	1609 nm	WSW
Alofi	Thu 10:58 AM	3098 km	1925 miles	1673 nm	SW
Adamstown	Thu 1:58 PM	3197 km	1986 miles	1726 nm	SE
Baker Island	Thu 9:58 AM	3220 km	2001 miles	1739 nm	W
Nukualofa	Fri 10:58 AM	3686 km	2290 miles	1990 nm	SW