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 Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at 22:36:00 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 Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at 22:36:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	15° 43'	North
Longitude:	160° 03'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 446.64 meters/second, 1607.9 km/hour, 999.1 miles/hour or 868.2 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"	16.65 mi	west	0° 00' 00.7"	0.01 mi	north	16.65 mi
1 hour	15° 00' 03.9"	998.96 mi	west	0° 00' 44.0"	0.84 mi	north	998.93 mi
24 hours	0° 01' 28.6"	1.64 mi	west	0° 17' 28.2"	20.02 mi	north	20.09 mi

Position of the Moon

On Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at 22:36:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	3° 37'	South
Longitude:	24° 22'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 446.87 meters/second, 1608.7 km/hour, 999.6 miles/hour or 868.6 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' 28.6"	16.66 mi	west	0° 00' 13.2"	0.25 mi	south	16.66 mi
1 hour	14° 28' 40.5"	999.53 mi	west	0° 13' 13.8"	15.15 mi	south	999.52 mi
24 hours	12° 49' 47.3"	885.75 mi	east	5° 12' 49.8"	358.30 mi	south	951.98 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
Honolulu	Wed 12:36 PM	662 km	411 miles	357 nm	NNE
Kiritimati	Thu 12:36 PM	1560 km	970 miles	842 nm	S
Midway	Wed 11:36 AM	2257 km	1402 miles	1219 nm	NW
Baker Island	Wed 10:36 AM	2491 km	1548 miles	1345 nm	SW
Fakaofo	Thu 11:36 AM	3035 km	1886 miles	1639 nm	SSW
Majuro	Thu 10:36 AM	3273 km	2034 miles	1767 nm	WSW
Tarawa	Thu 10:36 AM	3354 km	2084 miles	1811 nm	WSW
Apia	Thu 11:36 AM	3513 km	2183 miles	1897 nm	SSW
Funafuti	Thu 10:36 AM	3522 km	2189 miles	1902 nm	SW
Wake Island	Thu 10:36 AM	3553 km	2208 miles	1919 nm	WNW