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 Friday, December 21, 2012 at 01:52:00 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 Friday, December 21, 2012 at 01:52:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	23° 26'	South
Longitude:	151° 15'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 425.65 meters/second, 1532.3 km/hour, 952.1 miles/hour or 827.4 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"	15.87 mi	west	0° 00' 00.0"	0.00 mi	south	15.87 mi
1 hour	14° 59' 41.4"	951.78 mi	west	0° 00' 00.4"	0.01 mi	south	951.78 mi
24 hours	0° 07' 27.2"	7.89 mi	east	0° 00' 03.1"	0.06 mi	north	7.89 mi

Position of the Moon

On Friday, December 21, 2012 at 01:52:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	7° 13'	North
Longitude:	111° 08'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 446.46 meters/second, 1607.2 km/hour, 998.7 miles/hour or 867.8 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' 33.1"	16.64 mi	west	0° 00' 10.3"	0.20 mi	north	16.65 mi
1 hour	14° 33' 05.6"	998.65 mi	west	0° 10' 23.8"	11.91 mi	north	998.53 mi
24 hours	10° 45' 50.2"	738.73 mi	east	3° 56' 53.9"	271.37 mi	north	783.43 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
Rockhampton	Fri 11:52 AM	76 km	47 miles	41 nm	W
Bundaberg	Fri 11:52 AM	193 km	120 miles	104 nm	SE
Brisbane	Fri 11:52 AM	481 km	299 miles	260 nm	SSE
Cairns	Fri 11:52 AM	920 km	572 miles	497 nm	NW
Sydney *	Fri 12:52 PM	1156 km	718 miles	624 nm	S
Canberra *	Fri 12:52 PM	1329 km	826 miles	718 nm	S
Port Moresby	Fri 11:52 AM	1607 km	998 miles	868 nm	NNW
Melbourne *	Fri 12:52 PM	1703 km	1058 miles	920 nm	SSW
Adelaide *	Fri 12:22 PM	1768 km	1099 miles	955 nm	SW
Alice Springs	Fri 11:22 AM	1774 km	1102 miles	958 nm	W