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 20:56:00 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 20:56:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	17° 38'	North
Longitude:	135° 10'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 442.18 meters/second, 1591.8 km/hour, 989.1 miles/hour or 859.5 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"	16.49 mi	west	0° 00' 00.6"	0.01 mi	north	16.49 mi
1 hour	15° 00' 01.4"	988.93 mi	west	0° 00' 39.2"	0.75 mi	north	988.90 mi
24 hours	0° 00' 29.5"	0.54 mi	west	0° 15' 31.7"	17.80 mi	north	17.81 mi

Position of the Moon

On Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 20:56:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	19° 50'	South
Longitude:	99° 43'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 419.55 meters/second, 1510.4 km/hour, 938.5 miles/hour or 815.5 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' 25.1"	15.64 mi	west	0° 00' 05.5"	0.11 mi	north	15.64 mi
1 hour	14° 25' 07.0"	938.32 mi	west	0° 05' 39.1"	6.48 mi	north	938.62 mi
24 hours	13° 30' 04.1"	878.64 mi	east	2° 46' 13.3"	190.55 mi	north	906.18 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 10:56 AM	2414 km	1500 miles	1303 nm	WNW
Tijuana *	Wed 1:56 PM	2458 km	1527 miles	1327 nm	NE
San Diego *	Wed 1:56 PM	2461 km	1529 miles	1329 nm	NE
Los Angeles *	Wed 1:56 PM	2479 km	1540 miles	1339 nm	NE
San Jose *	Wed 1:56 PM	2541 km	1579 miles	1372 nm	NNE
San Francisco *	Wed 1:56 PM	2554 km	1587 miles	1379 nm	NNE
Mexicali *	Wed 1:56 PM	2583 km	1605 miles	1395 nm	NE
Hermosillo	Wed 1:56 PM	2772 km	1722 miles	1497 nm	ENE
Las Vegas *	Wed 1:56 PM	2843 km	1767 miles	1535 nm	NE
Phoenix	Wed 1:56 PM	2896 km	1799 miles	1564 nm	NE