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 Saturday, March 17, 2012 at 16:38:00 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 Saturday, March 17, 2012 at 16:38:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	0° 60'	South
Longitude:	67° 44'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 463.85 meters/second, 1669.9 km/hour, 1037.6 miles/hour or 901.7 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"	1037.68 mi	west	0° 00' 59.2"	1.13 mi	north	1037.69 mi
24 hours	0° 04' 21.4"	5.02 mi	west	0° 23' 43.8"	27.18 mi	north	27.64 mi

Position of the Moon

On Saturday, March 17, 2012 at 16:38:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	16° 12'	South
Longitude:	123° 53'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 430.49 meters/second, 1549.8 km/hour, 963.0 miles/hour or 836.8 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' 29.5"	16.05 mi	west	0° 00' 08.5"	0.16 mi	north	16.05 mi
1 hour	14° 29' 34.3"	962.83 mi	west	0° 08' 35.5"	9.85 mi	north	963.23 mi
24 hours	11° 50' 57.8"	787.27 mi	east	3° 45' 12.0"	258.06 mi	north	835.02 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
Manaus	Sat 12:38 PM	889 km	552 miles	480 nm	ESE
Bogota	Sat 11:38 AM	942 km	585 miles	508 nm	NW
Rio Branco	Sat 12:38 PM	994 km	617 miles	537 nm	S
Cali	Sat 11:38 AM	1090 km	677 miles	589 nm	WNW
Medellin	Sat 11:38 AM	1186 km	737 miles	640 nm	NW
Quito	Sat 11:38 AM	1201 km	747 miles	649 nm	W
Caracas	Sat 12:08 PM	1275 km	792 miles	688 nm	N
Guayaquil	Sat 11:38 AM	1360 km	845 miles	735 nm	W
Georgetown	Sat 12:38 PM	1370 km	851 miles	740 nm	NE
Port of Spain	Sat 12:38 PM	1461 km	908 miles	789 nm	NNE