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 Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 02:24:00 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 Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 02:24:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	22° 16'	South
Longitude:	141° 17'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 429.32 meters/second, 1545.5 km/hour, 960.4 miles/hour or 834.5 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° 14' 59.6"	16.01 mi	west	0° 00' 00.2"	0.01 mi	south	16.01 mi
1 hour	14° 59' 44.8"	960.02 mi	west	0° 00' 19.7"	0.38 mi	south	960.01 mi
24 hours	0° 06' 08.5"	6.56 mi	east	0° 07' 43.1"	8.85 mi	south	11.01 mi

Position of the Moon

On Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 02:24:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	12° 08'	North
Longitude:	23° 54'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 439.64 meters/second, 1582.7 km/hour, 983.4 miles/hour or 854.6 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' 32.2"	16.39 mi	west	0° 00' 09.0"	0.17 mi	south	16.39 mi
1 hour	14° 32' 20.9"	983.34 mi	west	0° 09' 07.9"	10.46 mi	south	983.68 mi
24 hours	11° 01' 34.3"	745.79 mi	east	3° 54' 38.8"	268.80 mi	south	797.32 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
Cairns	Tue 12:24 PM	757 km	470 miles	409 nm	NE
Alice Springs	Tue 11:54 AM	776 km	482 miles	419 nm	WSW
Brisbane	Tue 12:24 PM	1318 km	819 miles	712 nm	ESE
Adelaide *	Tue 12:54 PM	1427 km	887 miles	771 nm	S
Darwin	Tue 11:54 AM	1551 km	963 miles	837 nm	NW
Port Moresby	Tue 12:24 PM	1553 km	965 miles	838 nm	NNE
Eucla	Tue 11:09 AM	1610 km	1000 miles	869 nm	SW
Sydney *	Tue 1:24 PM	1611 km	1001 miles	870 nm	SE
Canberra *	Tue 1:24 PM	1632 km	1014 miles	881 nm	SSE
Melbourne *	Tue 1:24 PM	1759 km	1093 miles	950 nm	S