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, July 21, 2012 at 12:56:00 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 Saturday, July 21, 2012 at 12:56:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	20° 19'	North
Longitude:	12° 40'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 435.12 meters/second, 1566.4 km/hour, 973.3 miles/hour or 845.8 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"	16.22 mi	west	0° 00' 00.5"	0.01 mi	south	16.22 mi
1 hour	14° 59' 58.4"	973.07 mi	west	0° 00' 29.6"	0.57 mi	south	973.09 mi
24 hours	0° 00' 34.1"	0.62 mi	east	0° 12' 00.6"	13.77 mi	south	13.79 mi

Position of the Moon

On Saturday, July 21, 2012 at 12:56:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	7° 34'	North
Longitude:	13° 60'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 445.14 meters/second, 1602.5 km/hour, 995.8 miles/hour or 865.3 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' 31.1"	16.60 mi	west	0° 00' 11.5"	0.22 mi	south	16.60 mi
1 hour	14° 31' 12.4"	995.69 mi	west	0° 11' 29.7"	13.17 mi	south	996.00 mi
24 hours	11° 30' 30.4"	789.19 mi	east	4° 45' 57.5"	327.51 mi	south	857.62 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
Nouakchott	Sat 12:56 PM	428 km	266 miles	231 nm	SW
Nouadhibou	Sat 12:56 PM	461 km	286 miles	249 nm	W
Rosso	Sat 12:56 PM	537 km	334 miles	290 nm	SW
Touba	Sat 12:56 PM	694 km	431 miles	375 nm	SSW
El Aaiún	Sat 12:56 PM	758 km	471 miles	409 nm	N
Thiès	Sat 12:56 PM	761 km	473 miles	411 nm	SW
Dakar	Sat 12:56 PM	805 km	500 miles	434 nm	SW
Farafenni	Sat 12:56 PM	810 km	503 miles	437 nm	SSW
Banjul	Sat 12:56 PM	867 km	539 miles	468 nm	SSW
Serekunda	Sat 12:56 PM	874 km	543 miles	472 nm	SSW