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 9, 2012 at 11:46:00 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 Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 11:46:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	17° 32'	North
Longitude:	2° 20'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 442.42 meters/second, 1592.7 km/hour, 989.7 miles/hour or 860.0 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"	16.50 mi	west	0° 00' 00.7"	0.01 mi	north	16.50 mi
1 hour	15° 00' 01.4"	989.48 mi	west	0° 00' 39.4"	0.75 mi	north	989.45 mi
24 hours	0° 00' 32.8"	0.60 mi	west	0° 15' 38.5"	17.93 mi	north	17.94 mi

Position of the Moon

On Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 11:46:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	20° 36'	South
Longitude:	128° 11'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 417.10 meters/second, 1501.6 km/hour, 933.0 miles/hour or 810.8 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' 24.1"	15.55 mi	west	0° 00' 04.3"	0.08 mi	north	15.55 mi
1 hour	14° 24' 17.0"	932.82 mi	west	0° 04' 28.8"	5.14 mi	north	933.06 mi
24 hours	13° 51' 28.8"	897.43 mi	east	2° 21' 35.2"	162.33 mi	north	918.55 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	Wed 12:46 PM	446 km	277 miles	241 nm	S
Agadez	Wed 12:46 PM	605 km	376 miles	327 nm	E
Maradi	Wed 12:46 PM	680 km	422 miles	367 nm	SE
Ouagadougou	Wed 11:46 AM	707 km	439 miles	381 nm	SW
Koudougou	Wed 11:46 AM	773 km	480 miles	417 nm	SW
Zinder	Wed 12:46 PM	824 km	512 miles	445 nm	ESE
Kano	Wed 12:46 PM	905 km	562 miles	489 nm	SE
Parakou	Wed 12:46 PM	908 km	564 miles	490 nm	S
Kaduna	Wed 12:46 PM	952 km	592 miles	514 nm	SE
Tamale	Wed 11:46 AM	963 km	598 miles	520 nm	SSW