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 20:34:00 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 20:34:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	22° 22'	South
Longitude:	131° 09'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 429.01 meters/second, 1544.5 km/hour, 959.7 miles/hour or 833.9 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' 59.7"	16.00 mi	west	0° 00' 00.3"	0.01 mi	south	16.00 mi
1 hour	14° 59' 44.4"	959.35 mi	west	0° 00' 19.0"	0.36 mi	south	959.33 mi
24 hours	0° 06' 14.9"	6.67 mi	east	0° 07' 23.3"	8.48 mi	south	10.78 mi

Position of the Moon

On Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 20:34:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	9° 13'	North
Longitude:	119° 45'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 443.91 meters/second, 1598.1 km/hour, 993.0 miles/hour or 862.9 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' 32.4"	16.55 mi	west	0° 00' 10.0"	0.19 mi	south	16.55 mi
1 hour	14° 32' 28.2"	992.94 mi	west	0° 10' 08.3"	11.61 mi	south	993.24 mi
24 hours	11° 01' 52.5"	753.29 mi	east	4° 15' 48.7"	293.00 mi	south	811.83 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	Tue 12:34 PM	317 km	197 miles	171 nm	SSE
Gambier Islands	Tue 11:34 AM	400 km	248 miles	216 nm	WSW
Papeete	Tue 10:34 AM	2000 km	1243 miles	1080 nm	WNW
Easter Island *	Tue 3:34 PM	2264 km	1407 miles	1223 nm	ESE
Rarotonga	Tue 10:34 AM	2959 km	1839 miles	1598 nm	W
Kiritimati	Wed 10:34 AM	3909 km	2429 miles	2111 nm	NW
Alofi	Tue 9:34 AM	4045 km	2513 miles	2184 nm	W
Apia *	Wed 10:34 AM	4389 km	2727 miles	2370 nm	W
Nukualofa	Wed 9:34 AM	4543 km	2823 miles	2453 nm	W
Suva *	Wed 9:34 AM	5266 km	3272 miles	2844 nm	W