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, December 5, 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' 44" longitude and in a southerly direction by 0° 00' 18" latitude.

The average ground speed of the movement is currently 428.70 meters/second, 1543.3 km/hour, 959.0 miles/hour or 833.3 knots.

Locations with the Sun near zenith

Location	Local time	Distance			Direction
Cook Islands - Rarotonga	Sat 12:24 PM	241 km	149 miles	130 nm	WNW
France - Tahiti - Papeete	Sat 12:24 PM	1063 km	660 miles	574 nm	ENE
Niue - Alofi	Sat 11:24 AM	1269 km	788 miles	685 nm	WNW
American Samoa - Pago Pago	Sat 11:24 AM	1594 km	991 miles	861 nm	WNW
Samoa - Apia	Sat 11:24 AM	1716 km	1067 miles	927 nm	WNW
Tonga - Nukualofa	Sun 11:24 AM	1755 km	1090 miles	948 nm	W
Tokelau - Tokelau - Fakaofo	Sat 12:24 PM	2004 km	1245 miles	1082 nm	NW
Wallis and Futuna - Mata-Utu	Sun 10:24 AM	2147 km	1334 miles	1159 nm	WNW
French Polynesia - Gambier Islands	Sat 1:24 PM	2394 km	1488 miles	1293 nm	E
Fiji - Suva *	Sun 11:24 AM	2478 km	1540 miles	1338 nm	W

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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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