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 11:54:00 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 11:54:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	15° 53'	North
Longitude:	0° 26'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 446.28 meters/second, 1606.6 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' 00.0"	16.64 mi	west	0° 00' 00.6"	0.01 mi	north	16.64 mi
1 hour	15° 00' 03.6"	998.16 mi	west	0° 00' 43.5"	0.83 mi	north	998.13 mi
24 hours	0° 01' 23.10"	1.55 mi	west	0° 17' 19.4"	19.85 mi	north	19.91 mi

Position of the Moon

On Thursday, May 3, 2012 at 11:54:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	6° 32'	South
Longitude:	143° 09'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 444.43 meters/second, 1600.0 km/hour, 994.2 miles/hour or 863.9 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' 27.8"	16.57 mi	west	0° 00' 13.0"	0.25 mi	south	16.57 mi
1 hour	14° 27' 49.0"	994.05 mi	west	0° 13' 01.8"	14.92 mi	south	993.94 mi
24 hours	13° 12' 41.3"	907.99 mi	east	5° 01' 56.7"	345.88 mi	south	966.28 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
Niamey	Thu 12:54 PM	318 km	197 miles	172 nm	SE
Ouagadougou	Thu 11:54 AM	442 km	275 miles	239 nm	SSW
Koudougou	Thu 11:54 AM	502 km	312 miles	271 nm	SW
Kara	Thu 11:54 AM	705 km	438 miles	381 nm	S
Bobo-Dioulasso	Thu 11:54 AM	729 km	453 miles	394 nm	SW
Tamale	Thu 11:54 AM	729 km	453 miles	394 nm	S
Koutiala	Thu 11:54 AM	745 km	463 miles	402 nm	WSW
Parakou	Thu 12:54 PM	762 km	473 miles	411 nm	SSE
Maradi	Thu 12:54 PM	765 km	475 miles	413 nm	ESE
Sokodé	Thu 11:54 AM	766 km	476 miles	414 nm	S