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 Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 22:24:00 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' 58" longitude and in a southerly direction by 0° 00' 44" latitude.

The average ground speed of the movement is currently 444.77 meters/second, 1601.2 km/hour, 994.9 miles/hour or 864.6 knots.

Locations with the Sun near zenith

Location	Local time	Distance			Direction
Cook Islands - Rarotonga	Sat 12:24 PM	533 km	331 miles	288 nm	S
Niue - Alofi	Sat 11:24 AM	1081 km	672 miles	584 nm	WbS
France - Tahiti - Papeete	Sat 12:24 PM	1123 km	698 miles	607 nm	EbS
American Samoa - Pago Pago	Sat 11:24 AM	1168 km	726 miles	631 nm	WbN
Samoa - Apia	Sat 11:24 AM	1291 km	802 miles	697 nm	WbN
Tokelau - Tokelau - Fakaofo	Sat 12:24 PM	1447 km	899 miles	781 nm	NWbW
Tonga - Nukualofa	Sun 11:24 AM	1673 km	1040 miles	903 nm	WSW
Wallis and Futuna - Mata-Utu	Sun 10:24 AM	1768 km	1099 miles	955 nm	WbN
Kiribati - Phoenix Islands - Rawaki	Sun 11:24 AM	1910 km	1187 miles	1031 nm	NW
Kiribati - Christmas Island - Kiritimati	Sun 12:24 PM	2056 km	1278 miles	1110 nm	NbE

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• Moon Phase Calculator – Calculate Moon Phases for any year
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More information

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

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