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, September 19, 2012 at 20:16:00 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, September 19, 2012 at 20:16:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	1° 05'	North
Longitude:	125° 54'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 463.86 meters/second, 1669.9 km/hour, 1037.6 miles/hour or 901.7 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' 00.1"	17.30 mi	west	0° 00' 01.0"	0.02 mi	south	17.30 mi
1 hour	15° 00' 13.3"	1037.71 mi	west	0° 00' 58.3"	1.11 mi	south	1037.71 mi
24 hours	0° 05' 18.5"	6.12 mi	west	0° 23' 18.7"	26.70 mi	south	27.39 mi

Position of the Moon

On Wednesday, September 19, 2012 at 20:16:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	17° 59'	South
Longitude:	78° 19'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 424.18 meters/second, 1527.1 km/hour, 948.9 miles/hour or 824.5 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"	15.82 mi	west	0° 00' 07.1"	0.14 mi	south	15.82 mi
1 hour	14° 25' 03.2"	948.64 mi	west	0° 07' 02.1"	8.07 mi	south	948.36 mi
24 hours	14° 07' 49.7"	929.76 mi	east	2° 13' 23.7"	152.93 mi	south	936.23 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
Adamstown	Wed 12:16 PM	2928 km	1819 miles	1581 nm	S
Papeete	Wed 10:16 AM	3313 km	2058 miles	1789 nm	SW
Hermosillo	Wed 1:16 PM	3480 km	2162 miles	1879 nm	NNE
Kiritimati	Thu 10:16 AM	3499 km	2174 miles	1890 nm	W
Mexico City *	Wed 3:16 PM	3554 km	2208 miles	1919 nm	NE
Easter Island *	Wed 3:16 PM	3586 km	2228 miles	1936 nm	SSE
Los Angeles *	Wed 1:16 PM	3736 km	2322 miles	2017 nm	NNE
Phoenix	Wed 1:16 PM	3863 km	2401 miles	2086 nm	NNE
Las Vegas *	Wed 1:16 PM	4037 km	2508 miles	2180 nm	NNE
Galapagos Islands	Wed 2:16 PM	4046 km	2514 miles	2185 nm	E