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 11:26:00 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 11:26:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	15° 52'	North
Longitude:	7° 26'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 446.30 meters/second, 1606.7 km/hour, 998.3 miles/hour or 867.5 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"	16.64 mi	west	0° 00' 00.7"	0.01 mi	north	16.64 mi
1 hour	15° 00' 03.6"	998.19 mi	west	0° 00' 43.5"	0.83 mi	north	998.16 mi
24 hours	0° 01' 24.2"	1.56 mi	west	0° 17' 19.6"	19.86 mi	north	19.92 mi

Position of the Moon

On Thursday, May 3, 2012 at 11:26:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	6° 26'	South
Longitude:	149° 54'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 444.54 meters/second, 1600.3 km/hour, 994.4 miles/hour or 864.1 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"	16.57 mi	west	0° 00' 13.1"	0.25 mi	south	16.57 mi
1 hour	14° 27' 51.0"	994.28 mi	west	0° 13' 02.4"	14.94 mi	south	994.18 mi
24 hours	13° 11' 50.8"	907.21 mi	east	5° 02' 26.9"	346.45 mi	south	965.82 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
Agadez	Thu 12:26 PM	135 km	84 miles	73 nm	NNE
Maradi	Thu 12:26 PM	265 km	165 miles	143 nm	S
Zinder	Thu 12:26 PM	283 km	176 miles	153 nm	SE
Kano	Thu 12:26 PM	444 km	276 miles	240 nm	SSE
Kaduna	Thu 12:26 PM	592 km	368 miles	320 nm	S
Niamey	Thu 12:26 PM	630 km	391 miles	340 nm	WSW
Abuja	Thu 12:26 PM	741 km	460 miles	400 nm	S
Parakou	Thu 12:26 PM	891 km	554 miles	481 nm	SW
Ndjamena	Thu 12:26 PM	922 km	573 miles	498 nm	ESE
Kara	Thu 11:26 AM	974 km	605 miles	526 nm	SW