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 Friday, March 16, 2012 at 20:20:00 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 Friday, March 16, 2012 at 20:20:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	1° 20'	South
Longitude:	123° 10'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 463.80 meters/second, 1669.7 km/hour, 1037.5 miles/hour or 901.6 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' 10.8"	1037.56 mi	west	0° 00' 59.2"	1.13 mi	north	1037.56 mi
24 hours	0° 04' 19.3"	4.98 mi	west	0° 23' 43.6"	27.17 mi	north	27.63 mi

Position of the Moon

On Friday, March 16, 2012 at 20:20:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	18° 48'	South
Longitude:	170° 03'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 423.66 meters/second, 1525.2 km/hour, 947.7 miles/hour or 823.5 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' 27.9"	15.80 mi	west	0° 00' 06.7"	0.13 mi	north	15.80 mi
1 hour	14° 28' 04.1"	947.52 mi	west	0° 06' 48.1"	7.80 mi	north	947.87 mi
24 hours	347° 34' 09.6"	814.16 mi	west	3° 08' 17.4"	215.82 mi	north	849.17 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
Adamstown	Fri 12:20 PM	2730 km	1696 miles	1474 nm	SSW
Easter Island *	Fri 3:20 PM	3210 km	1995 miles	1733 nm	SSE
Papeete	Fri 10:20 AM	3398 km	2112 miles	1835 nm	WSW
Mexico City	Fri 2:20 PM	3489 km	2168 miles	1884 nm	NE
Hermosillo	Fri 1:20 PM	3607 km	2241 miles	1947 nm	NNE
Galapagos Islands	Fri 2:20 PM	3737 km	2322 miles	2018 nm	E
Kiritimati	Sat 10:20 AM	3819 km	2373 miles	2062 nm	W
Los Angeles *	Fri 1:20 PM	3950 km	2455 miles	2133 nm	N
Guatemala	Fri 2:20 PM	4005 km	2489 miles	2163 nm	ENE
Phoenix	Fri 1:20 PM	4022 km	2499 miles	2172 nm	NNE