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 Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 00:36:00 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 Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 00:36:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	23° 26'	South
Longitude:	170° 22'	East

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"	951.79 mi	west	0° 00' 00.7"	0.01 mi	north	951.79 mi
24 hours	0° 07' 27.1"	7.89 mi	east	0° 00' 30.0"	0.57 mi	north	7.91 mi

Position of the Moon

On Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 00:36:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	10° 58'	North
Longitude:	81° 56'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 441.80 meters/second, 1590.5 km/hour, 988.3 miles/hour or 858.8 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' 32.9"	16.47 mi	west	0° 00' 09.2"	0.18 mi	north	16.47 mi
1 hour	14° 33' 01.8"	988.18 mi	west	0° 09' 18.7"	10.67 mi	north	987.98 mi
24 hours	10° 51' 09.1"	737.07 mi	east	3° 27' 27.8"	237.71 mi	north	769.93 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
Noumea	Sat 11:36 AM	422 km	262 miles	228 nm	WNW
Port Vila	Sat 11:36 AM	666 km	414 miles	360 nm	NNW
Kingston	Sat 12:06 PM	667 km	414 miles	360 nm	SSW
Nadi *	Sat 1:36 PM	963 km	599 miles	520 nm	NE
Lautoka *	Sat 1:36 PM	981 km	610 miles	530 nm	NE
Suva *	Sat 1:36 PM	1023 km	636 miles	553 nm	ENE
Nukualofa	Sat 1:36 PM	1509 km	938 miles	815 nm	E
Auckland *	Sat 1:36 PM	1546 km	960 miles	835 nm	SSE
Brisbane	Sat 10:36 AM	1799 km	1118 miles	971 nm	WSW
Funafuti	Sat 12:36 PM	1902 km	1182 miles	1027 nm	NNE