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, August 1, 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 Wednesday, August 1, 2012 at 12:56:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	17° 50'	North
Longitude:	12° 42'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 441.72 meters/second, 1590.2 km/hour, 988.1 miles/hour or 858.6 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"	16.47 mi	west	0° 00' 00.5"	0.01 mi	south	16.47 mi
1 hour	15° 00' 02.5"	987.91 mi	west	0° 00' 38.2"	0.73 mi	south	987.94 mi
24 hours	0° 01' 07.1"	1.23 mi	west	0° 15' 26.9"	17.71 mi	south	17.75 mi

Position of the Moon

On Wednesday, August 1, 2012 at 12:56:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	15° 32'	South
Longitude:	158° 12'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 430.73 meters/second, 1550.6 km/hour, 963.5 miles/hour or 837.3 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' 27.2"	16.06 mi	west	0° 00' 09.2"	0.18 mi	north	16.06 mi
1 hour	14° 27' 15.9"	963.39 mi	west	0° 09' 14.4"	10.59 mi	north	963.81 mi
24 hours	12° 44' 17.6"	849.05 mi	east	4° 02' 21.1"	277.70 mi	north	900.50 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	Wed 12:56 PM	349 km	217 miles	188 nm	W
Rosso	Wed 12:56 PM	361 km	224 miles	195 nm	WSW
Touba	Wed 12:56 PM	472 km	293 miles	255 nm	SW
Thiès	Wed 12:56 PM	563 km	350 miles	304 nm	SW
Farafenni	Wed 12:56 PM	564 km	350 miles	304 nm	SSW
Nouadhibou	Wed 12:56 PM	572 km	355 miles	309 nm	NW
Dakar	Wed 12:56 PM	615 km	382 miles	332 nm	SW
Gabú	Wed 12:56 PM	635 km	395 miles	343 nm	SSW
Banjul	Wed 12:56 PM	638 km	397 miles	345 nm	SW
Serekunda	Wed 12:56 PM	647 km	402 miles	349 nm	SW