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 23:36:00 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 23:36:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	23° 26'	South
Longitude:	174° 38'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 425.65 meters/second, 1532.3 km/hour, 952.2 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	north	15.87 mi
1 hour	14° 59' 41.4"	951.78 mi	west	0° 00' 00.6"	0.01 mi	north	951.79 mi
24 hours	0° 07' 27.1"	7.89 mi	east	0° 00' 28.8"	0.55 mi	north	7.91 mi

Position of the Moon

On Friday, December 21, 2012 at 23:36:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	10° 49'	North
Longitude:	67° 23'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 442.03 meters/second, 1591.3 km/hour, 988.8 miles/hour or 859.2 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' 32.9"	16.48 mi	west	0° 00' 09.3"	0.18 mi	north	16.48 mi
1 hour	14° 33' 02.4"	988.71 mi	west	0° 09' 21.8"	10.73 mi	north	988.51 mi
24 hours	10° 50' 46.5"	737.03 mi	east	3° 28' 53.7"	239.34 mi	north	770.42 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
Nukualofa	Sat 12:36 PM	261 km	162 miles	141 nm	NNW
Pangai	Sat 12:36 PM	402 km	250 miles	217 nm	N
Neiafu	Sat 12:36 PM	534 km	332 miles	288 nm	N
Alofi	Fri 12:36 PM	690 km	429 miles	372 nm	NE
Suva *	Sat 12:36 PM	930 km	578 miles	502 nm	NW
Apia *	Sat 1:36 PM	1105 km	687 miles	597 nm	NNE
Rarotonga	Fri 1:36 PM	1550 km	963 miles	837 nm	E
Fakaofo	Sat 12:36 PM	1599 km	993 miles	863 nm	NNE
Funafuti	Sat 11:36 AM	1776 km	1104 miles	959 nm	NNW
Auckland *	Sat 12:36 PM	1801 km	1119 miles	972 nm	SSW