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 22:46:00 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 22:46:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	0° 54'	South
Longitude:	159° 45'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 463.87 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"	17.30 mi	west	0° 00' 01.0"	0.02 mi	north	17.30 mi
1 hour	15° 00' 10.8"	1037.71 mi	west	0° 00' 59.2"	1.13 mi	north	1037.72 mi
24 hours	0° 04' 21.8"	5.03 mi	west	0° 23' 43.8"	27.18 mi	north	27.64 mi

Position of the Moon

On Saturday, March 17, 2012 at 22:46:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	15° 18'	South
Longitude:	147° 12'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 432.60 meters/second, 1557.4 km/hour, 967.7 miles/hour or 840.9 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' 29.9"	16.13 mi	west	0° 00' 09.0"	0.17 mi	north	16.13 mi
1 hour	14° 30' 00.7"	967.58 mi	west	0° 09' 02.7"	10.37 mi	north	967.98 mi
24 hours	11° 41' 08.2"	779.81 mi	east	3° 54' 17.7"	268.46 mi	north	830.99 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	Sun 12:46 PM	407 km	253 miles	220 nm	NE
Fakaofo	Sun 11:46 AM	1579 km	981 miles	853 nm	SW
Baker Island	Sat 10:46 AM	1866 km	1159 miles	1007 nm	W
Apia *	Sun 12:46 PM	1949 km	1211 miles	1053 nm	SW
Papeete	Sat 12:46 PM	2152 km	1337 miles	1162 nm	SSE
Rarotonga	Sat 12:46 PM	2250 km	1398 miles	1215 nm	S
Alofi	Sat 11:46 AM	2294 km	1426 miles	1239 nm	SSW
Honolulu	Sat 12:46 PM	2465 km	1532 miles	1331 nm	N
Funafuti	Sun 10:46 AM	2479 km	1540 miles	1339 nm	WSW
Nukualofa	Sun 11:46 AM	2798 km	1739 miles	1511 nm	SW