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, November 4, 2009 at 06:04:00 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' 59" longitude and in a southerly direction by 0° 00' 46" latitude.

The average ground speed of the movement is currently 447.23 meters/second, 1610.0 km/hour, 1000.4 miles/hour or 869.3 knots.

Locations with the Sun near zenith

Location	Local time	Distance			Direction
Cocos Islands - Bantam	Wed 12:34 PM	1348 km	838 miles	728 nm	ENE
British Indian Ocean Territory - Diego Garcia	Wed 12:04 PM	1629 km	1012 miles	879 nm	WNW
Australia - Christmas Island - The Settlement	Wed 1:04 PM	2317 km	1440 miles	1251 nm	E
Indonesia - Sumatera - Padang	Wed 1:04 PM	2336 km	1452 miles	1261 nm	NE
Indonesia - Sumatera - Tanjungkarang	Wed 1:04 PM	2484 km	1544 miles	1341 nm	ENE
Sri Lanka - Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte	Wed 11:34 AM	2528 km	1571 miles	1365 nm	NNW
Indonesia - Sumatera - Pekanbaru	Wed 1:04 PM	2528 km	1571 miles	1365 nm	NE
Sri Lanka - Colombo	Wed 11:34 AM	2532 km	1573 miles	1367 nm	NNW
Indonesia - Sumatera - Pematangsiantar	Wed 1:04 PM	2562 km	1592 miles	1383 nm	NE
Indonesia - Sumatera - Jambi	Wed 1:04 PM	2565 km	1594 miles	1385 nm	NE

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More information

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• December Solstice
• Vernal Equinox
• June Solstice

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