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 Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:14:00 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 Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:14:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	23° 21'	South
Longitude:	146° 22'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 425.92 meters/second, 1533.3 km/hour, 952.7 miles/hour or 827.9 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"	15.88 mi	west	0° 00' 00.1"	0.00 mi	north	15.88 mi
1 hour	14° 59' 41.5"	952.38 mi	west	0° 00' 05.5"	0.10 mi	north	952.39 mi
24 hours	0° 07' 21.9"	7.80 mi	east	0° 02' 24.6"	2.76 mi	north	8.28 mi

Position of the Moon

On Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 02:14:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	20° 38'	North
Longitude:	60° 55'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 420.23 meters/second, 1512.8 km/hour, 940.0 miles/hour or 816.9 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' 30.8"	15.67 mi	west	0° 00' 01.8"	0.04 mi	north	15.67 mi
1 hour	14° 30' 54.2"	939.77 mi	west	0° 01' 48.1"	2.07 mi	north	939.68 mi
24 hours	11° 41' 35.5"	757.16 mi	east	0° 16' 39.3"	19.10 mi	north	756.71 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	Wed 12:14 PM	715 km	444 miles	386 nm	N
Brisbane	Wed 12:14 PM	810 km	503 miles	437 nm	SE
Sydney *	Wed 1:14 PM	1257 km	781 miles	679 nm	SSE
Alice Springs	Wed 11:44 AM	1277 km	794 miles	690 nm	W
Canberra *	Wed 1:14 PM	1349 km	838 miles	728 nm	S
Adelaide *	Wed 12:44 PM	1488 km	925 miles	804 nm	SSW
Port Moresby	Wed 12:14 PM	1541 km	957 miles	832 nm	N
Melbourne *	Wed 1:14 PM	1609 km	1000 miles	869 nm	S
Eucla	Wed 10:59 AM	1954 km	1214 miles	1055 nm	WSW
Darwin	Wed 11:44 AM	2037 km	1265 miles	1100 nm	NW