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 17, 2012 at 02:56:00 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 Thursday, May 17, 2012 at 02:56:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	19° 24'	North
Longitude:	134° 49'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 437.65 meters/second, 1575.6 km/hour, 979.0 miles/hour or 850.7 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"	16.32 mi	west	0° 00' 00.6"	0.01 mi	north	16.32 mi
1 hour	14° 59' 58.6"	978.76 mi	west	0° 00' 33.4"	0.64 mi	north	978.73 mi
24 hours	0° 00' 34.0"	0.62 mi	east	0° 13' 14.9"	15.19 mi	north	15.20 mi

Position of the Moon

On Thursday, May 17, 2012 at 02:56:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	9° 31'	North
Longitude:	92° 21'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 444.30 meters/second, 1599.5 km/hour, 993.9 miles/hour or 863.6 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' 34.0"	16.56 mi	west	0° 00' 10.0"	0.19 mi	north	16.57 mi
1 hour	14° 33' 59.2"	993.78 mi	west	0° 09' 58.8"	11.43 mi	north	993.61 mi
24 hours	10° 30' 38.4"	717.11 mi	east	3° 46' 36.7"	259.62 mi	north	758.45 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
Guam (Hagåtña)	Thu 12:56 PM	1246 km	774 miles	673 nm	ESE
Melekeok	Thu 11:56 AM	1316 km	818 miles	711 nm	S
Kagoshima	Thu 11:56 AM	1417 km	880 miles	765 nm	NNW
Taipei	Thu 10:56 AM	1507 km	936 miles	814 nm	WNW
Kumamoto	Thu 11:56 AM	1541 km	957 miles	832 nm	NNW
Quezon	Thu 10:56 AM	1554 km	966 miles	839 nm	WSW
Manila	Thu 10:56 AM	1563 km	971 miles	844 nm	WSW
Fukuoka	Thu 11:56 AM	1640 km	1019 miles	886 nm	NNW
Kitakyushu	Thu 11:56 AM	1652 km	1026 miles	892 nm	NNW
Davao	Thu 10:56 AM	1689 km	1049 miles	912 nm	SW