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 Sunday, November 8, 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' 57" longitude and in a southerly direction by 0° 00' 43" latitude.

The average ground speed of the movement is currently 444.10 meters/second, 1598.8 km/hour, 993.4 miles/hour or 863.3 knots.

Locations with the Sun near zenith

Location	Local time	Distance			Direction
Cook Islands - Rarotonga	Sun 12:24 PM	501 km	311 miles	270 nm	S
Niue - Alofi	Sun 11:24 AM	1074 km	667 miles	580 nm	WSW
France - Tahiti - Papeete	Sun 12:24 PM	1118 km	695 miles	604 nm	E
American Samoa - Pago Pago	Sun 11:24 AM	1177 km	731 miles	635 nm	WNW
Samoa - Apia	Sun 11:24 AM	1300 km	808 miles	702 nm	WNW
Tokelau - Tokelau - Fakaofo	Sun 12:24 PM	1465 km	911 miles	791 nm	WNW
Tonga - Nukualofa	Mon 11:24 AM	1664 km	1034 miles	899 nm	WSW
Wallis and Futuna - Mata-Utu	Mon 10:24 AM	1775 km	1103 miles	959 nm	W
Kiribati - Phoenix Islands - Rawaki	Mon 11:24 AM	1935 km	1203 miles	1045 nm	NW
Kiribati - Christmas Island - Kiritimati	Mon 12:24 PM	2087 km	1297 miles	1127 nm	N

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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