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, September 20, 2012 at 17:24:00 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, September 20, 2012 at 17:24:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	0° 44'	North
Longitude:	82° 58'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 463.91 meters/second, 1670.1 km/hour, 1037.7 miles/hour or 901.8 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' 00.1"	17.30 mi	west	0° 00' 01.0"	0.02 mi	south	17.30 mi
1 hour	15° 00' 13.3"	1037.80 mi	west	0° 00' 58.3"	1.11 mi	south	1037.81 mi
24 hours	0° 05' 17.6"	6.10 mi	west	0° 23' 19.9"	26.72 mi	south	27.41 mi

Position of the Moon

On Thursday, September 20, 2012 at 17:24:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	20° 01'	South
Longitude:	22° 53'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 418.76 meters/second, 1507.5 km/hour, 936.7 miles/hour or 814.0 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' 24.3"	15.61 mi	west	0° 00' 04.2"	0.08 mi	south	15.61 mi
1 hour	14° 24' 24.9"	936.48 mi	west	0° 04' 16.5"	4.90 mi	south	936.28 mi
24 hours	14° 16' 21.4"	927.76 mi	east	1° 03' 53.3"	73.26 mi	south	927.46 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
Guayaquil	Thu 12:24 PM	473 km	294 miles	255 nm	SE
Quito	Thu 12:24 PM	509 km	317 miles	275 nm	ESE
Galapagos Islands	Thu 11:24 AM	759 km	472 miles	410 nm	WSW
Cali	Thu 12:24 PM	778 km	484 miles	420 nm	ENE
Panama	Thu 12:24 PM	990 km	615 miles	535 nm	NNE
Medellin	Thu 12:24 PM	1021 km	635 miles	551 nm	NE
San Jose	Thu 11:24 AM	1025 km	637 miles	553 nm	N
Bogota	Thu 12:24 PM	1078 km	670 miles	582 nm	ENE
Managua	Thu 11:24 AM	1313 km	816 miles	709 nm	NNW
Tegucigalpa	Thu 11:24 AM	1549 km	963 miles	836 nm	NNW