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 Saturday, May 12, 2012 at 17:46:00 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 Saturday, May 12, 2012 at 17:46:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	18° 22'	North
Longitude:	87° 41'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 440.35 meters/second, 1585.3 km/hour, 985.0 miles/hour or 856.0 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"	16.42 mi	west	0° 00' 00.6"	0.01 mi	north	16.42 mi
1 hour	15° 00' 00.2"	984.83 mi	west	0° 00' 37.0"	0.71 mi	north	984.80 mi
24 hours	0° 00' 04.1"	0.07 mi	west	0° 14' 39.4"	16.80 mi	north	16.80 mi

Position of the Moon

On Saturday, May 12, 2012 at 17:46:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	9° 50'	South
Longitude:	176° 32'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 442.59 meters/second, 1593.3 km/hour, 990.0 miles/hour or 860.3 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' 31.3"	16.50 mi	west	0° 00' 10.7"	0.21 mi	north	16.50 mi
1 hour	14° 31' 28.9"	989.99 mi	west	0° 10' 49.0"	12.39 mi	north	990.34 mi
24 hours	11° 06' 31.0"	757.18 mi	east	4° 26' 40.3"	305.45 mi	north	820.46 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
Chetumal *	Sat 12:46 PM	66 km	41 miles	36 nm	WNW
Orange Walk Town	Sat 11:46 AM	97 km	61 miles	53 nm	WSW
Belize City	Sat 11:46 AM	110 km	68 miles	59 nm	SSW
Belmopan	Sat 11:46 AM	169 km	105 miles	91 nm	SW
Playa del Carmen *	Sat 12:46 PM	259 km	161 miles	140 nm	NNE
La Ceiba	Sat 11:46 AM	301 km	187 miles	163 nm	SSE
Choloma	Sat 11:46 AM	307 km	191 miles	166 nm	S
Cancún *	Sat 12:46 PM	322 km	200 miles	174 nm	NNE
Merida *	Sat 12:46 PM	352 km	219 miles	190 nm	NW
Tegucigalpa	Sat 11:46 AM	476 km	296 miles	257 nm	S