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, May 3, 2012 at 00:04:00 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, May 3, 2012 at 00:04:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	15° 44'	North
Longitude:	177° 57'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 446.60 meters/second, 1607.8 km/hour, 999.0 miles/hour or 868.1 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' 03.8"	998.87 mi	west	0° 00' 44.0"	0.84 mi	north	998.84 mi
24 hours	0° 01' 28.0"	1.63 mi	west	0° 17' 27.1"	20.00 mi	north	20.07 mi

Position of the Moon

On Thursday, May 3, 2012 at 00:04:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	3° 56'	South
Longitude:	45° 36'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 446.66 meters/second, 1608.0 km/hour, 999.1 miles/hour or 868.2 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"	16.65 mi	west	0° 00' 13.2"	0.25 mi	south	16.65 mi
1 hour	14° 28' 35.2"	999.06 mi	west	0° 13' 13.3"	15.14 mi	south	999.04 mi
24 hours	12° 52' 11.2"	888.18 mi	east	5° 11' 58.6"	357.33 mi	south	953.66 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
Majuro	Thu 12:04 PM	1201 km	746 miles	648 nm	SW
Wake Island	Thu 12:04 PM	1262 km	784 miles	682 nm	WNW
Midway	Wed 1:04 PM	1464 km	910 miles	790 nm	NNE
Tarawa	Thu 12:04 PM	1674 km	1040 miles	904 nm	SSW
Baker Island	Wed 12:04 PM	1824 km	1134 miles	985 nm	SSE
Yaren	Thu 12:04 PM	2170 km	1348 miles	1171 nm	SW
Palikir	Thu 11:04 AM	2367 km	1471 miles	1278 nm	WSW
Honolulu	Wed 2:04 PM	2625 km	1631 miles	1418 nm	ENE
Funafuti	Thu 12:04 PM	2685 km	1669 miles	1450 nm	S
Fakaofo	Thu 1:04 PM	3021 km	1877 miles	1631 nm	SSE