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 23:24:00 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 444.75 meters/second, 1601.1 km/hour, 994.9 miles/hour or 864.5 knots.

Locations with the Sun near zenith

Location	Local time	Distance			Direction
Wallis and Futuna - Mata-Utu	Sun 11:24 AM	377 km	234 miles	204 nm	NNW
Samoa - Apia	Sat 12:24 PM	468 km	291 miles	252 nm	NE
Tonga - Nukualofa	Sun 12:24 PM	507 km	315 miles	274 nm	S
American Samoa - Pago Pago	Sat 12:24 PM	532 km	330 miles	287 nm	ENE
Niue - Alofi	Sat 12:24 PM	613 km	381 miles	331 nm	ESE
Fiji - Suva	Sun 11:24 AM	715 km	444 miles	386 nm	WSW
Tokelau - Tokelau - Fakaofo	Sat 1:24 PM	895 km	556 miles	484 nm	NNE
Tuvalu - Funafuti	Sun 11:24 AM	1083 km	673 miles	585 nm	NW
Kiribati - Phoenix Islands - Rawaki	Sun 12:24 PM	1545 km	960 miles	834 nm	NNE
Cook Islands - Rarotonga	Sat 1:24 PM	1646 km	1023 miles	889 nm	ESE

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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