Day and Night World Map

The map below shows the current position of the Sun and indicates which parts of the Earth are in day and which are in night.

Map notes

• The day and night parts of the Earth shown are as of Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 20:18:00 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 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

During the next hour, the Sun's position relative to Earth's surface will move in an westerly direction by 14° 59' 44" longitude and in a northerly direction by 0° 00' 20" latitude.

The average ground speed of the movement is currently 429.31 meters/second, 1545.5 km/hour, 960.3 miles/hour or 834.5 knots.

Locations with the Sun near zenith

Location	Local time	Distance			Direction
U.K. - Pitcairn Islands - Adamstown	Wed 12:18 PM	799 km	496 miles	431 nm	WSW
France - French Polynesia - Gambier Islands	Wed 11:18 AM	1245 km	774 miles	672 nm	WbS
Chile - Easter Island *	Wed 3:18 PM	1469 km	913 miles	793 nm	ESE
France - Marquesas Islands - Taiohae	Wed 10:48 AM	2306 km	1433 miles	1245 nm	NWbW
France - Tahiti - Papeete	Wed 10:18 AM	2841 km	1765 miles	1534 nm	WbN

Astronomy calculators

• Seasons Calculator
• Moon Calculator – find times for moonrise, moonset and more
• Moon Phase Calculator – Calculate Moon Phases for any year
• Sunrise Calculator – find times for sunrise, sunset and more

More information

• September Equinox
• December Solstice
• Vernal Equinox
• June Solstice

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