Day and Night World Map

The map below shows the current position of the Sun and the Moon. It indicates 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, May 16, 2012 at 11:36:00 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 Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 11:36:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	19° 15'	North
Longitude:	4° 49'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 438.04 meters/second, 1576.9 km/hour, 979.9 miles/hour or 851.5 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° 15' 00.0"	16.33 mi	west	0° 00' 00.6"	0.01 mi	north	16.33 mi
1 hour	14° 59' 59.0"	979.63 mi	west	0° 00' 34.0"	0.65 mi	north	979.60 mi
24 hours	0° 00' 28.6"	0.52 mi	east	0° 13' 27.7"	15.43 mi	north	15.44 mi

Position of the Moon

On Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 11:36:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	6° 53'	North
Longitude:	44° 16'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 447.34 meters/second, 1610.4 km/hour, 1000.7 miles/hour or 869.6 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' 34.2"	16.68 mi	west	0° 00' 10.5"	0.20 mi	north	16.68 mi
1 hour	14° 34' 11.6"	1000.62 mi	west	0° 10' 33.3"	12.09 mi	north	1000.50 mi
24 hours	10° 23' 05.8"	713.22 mi	east	4° 02' 59.2"	278.34 mi	north	762.22 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
Niamey	Wed 12:36 PM	697 km	433 miles	376 nm	SSW
Timbuktu	Wed 11:36 AM	873 km	542 miles	471 nm	WSW
Kano	Wed 12:36 PM	895 km	556 miles	483 nm	SSE
Kaduna	Wed 12:36 PM	1006 km	625 miles	543 nm	SSE
Ouagadougou	Wed 11:36 AM	1021 km	634 miles	551 nm	SW
Abuja	Wed 12:36 PM	1141 km	709 miles	616 nm	SSE
Sabha	Wed 1:36 PM	1308 km	812 miles	706 nm	NE
Ndjamena	Wed 12:36 PM	1352 km	840 miles	730 nm	SE
Lagos	Wed 12:36 PM	1425 km	885 miles	769 nm	S
Porto Novo	Wed 12:36 PM	1428 km	887 miles	771 nm	S