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 Monday, January 26, 2009 at 21:40:00 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 Monday, January 26, 2009 at 21:40:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	18° 30'	South
Longitude:	142° 06'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 439.94 meters/second, 1583.8 km/hour, 984.1 miles/hour or 855.2 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' 59.9"	16.40 mi	west	0° 00' 00.6"	0.01 mi	north	16.40 mi
1 hour	14° 59' 52.3"	983.91 mi	west	0° 00' 38.5"	0.74 mi	north	983.94 mi
24 hours	0° 03' 00.0"	3.28 mi	east	0° 15' 35.7"	17.88 mi	north	18.18 mi

Position of the Moon

On Monday, January 26, 2009 at 21:40:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	16° 26'	South
Longitude:	135° 49'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 431.71 meters/second, 1554.2 km/hour, 965.7 miles/hour or 839.2 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"	16.09 mi	west	0° 00' 11.2"	0.22 mi	north	16.10 mi
1 hour	14° 33' 01.6"	965.50 mi	west	0° 11' 21.6"	13.02 mi	north	966.06 mi
24 hours	10° 36' 42.7"	704.23 mi	east	4° 51' 07.7"	333.60 mi	north	786.37 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
Papeete	Mon 11:40 AM	798 km	496 miles	431 nm	W
Gambier Islands	Mon 12:40 PM	904 km	561 miles	488 nm	SE
Adamstown	Mon 1:40 PM	1437 km	893 miles	776 nm	ESE
Rarotonga	Mon 11:40 AM	1875 km	1165 miles	1012 nm	WSW
Kiritimati	Tue 11:40 AM	2803 km	1742 miles	1514 nm	NW
Alofi	Mon 10:40 AM	2930 km	1821 miles	1582 nm	W
Apia	Mon 10:40 AM	3211 km	1995 miles	1734 nm	W
Fakaofo	Mon 10:40 AM	3301 km	2051 miles	1782 nm	WNW
Nukualofa	Tue 10:40 AM	3474 km	2158 miles	1876 nm	W
Easter Island *	Mon 4:40 PM	3485 km	2165 miles	1882 nm	ESE