Sun overhead
23.06° S, 179.18° W
A live map of day and night on Earth
At any moment, half the Earth is in sunlight and half is in darkness. The line between them, the terminator, sweeps west at about 1,670 km/h at the equator as the planet turns, and its shape changes with the seasons. Around the March and September equinoxes it runs straight from pole to pole and every place gets roughly 12 hours of daylight; around the June solstice it tilts so the Arctic has the midnight sun while Antarctica sits in polar night, and in December it's the other way round.
This map draws that line from the sun's actual position. It computes the solar declination and the equation of time for the selected instant, places the subsolar point where the sun is directly overhead, and shades everything more than 90° away. Three more bands show civil, nautical and astronomical twilight, so you can see where it's dusk, where sailors can still see the horizon, and where the sky is fully dark for stargazing.
Use the time slider and date picker to see any moment, past or future, or press play to watch a whole day go by. Click anywhere, or search for a place, to get its sunrise, sunset, solar noon and day length for that date, in local time. It's handy for planning calls across time zones, golden-hour photography, flights that chase or flee the sunset, or explaining seasons in a classroom.
Frequently asked questions
Where is it daytime right now?
Everywhere outside the shaded area on the map. The map updates every minute from the current time, and the sun icon marks the subsolar point, the one spot where the sun is directly overhead right now. Everything within 90° of it is in daylight; the city list shows the local time and whether it's day, twilight or night in a dozen world cities.
How is the day/night line calculated?
From the sun's position, worked out with the NOAA solar equations: the solar declination says how far north or south of the equator the sun is overhead, and the equation of time corrects for the Earth's tilted, elliptical orbit to give the longitude where it's solar noon. The terminator is the great circle 90° from that subsolar point, and the twilight bands are the lines where the sun is 6°, 12° and 18° below the horizon.
What do civil, nautical and astronomical twilight mean?
They describe how far the sun has dropped below the horizon. In civil twilight (0–6° below) there's enough light to be outdoors without lamps. In nautical twilight (6–12°) the horizon at sea fades out but bright stars appear. In astronomical twilight (12–18°) the sky is nearly dark, and beyond 18° it's full night. Each band is drawn a shade darker on the map.
How accurate are the sunrise and sunset times?
Usually within a minute or two of published tables. Sunrise and sunset are the moments the top of the sun touches a flat, sea-level horizon, allowing for atmospheric refraction, as almanacs define them; mountains, buildings and unusual weather can shift what you actually see. Inside the Arctic and Antarctic circles the tool reports midnight sun or polar night when the sun doesn't set or rise at all.
Which time zone are the sunrise and sunset times in?
The local time of the place you picked. For the listed cities that's their official time zone, daylight saving included. For a point you click, the tool uses the time zone of the nearest major city and says which one, and over open ocean it falls back to nautical time, one hour per 15° of longitude. The UTC time is always shown too.
Can I download the day and night map?
Yes. Set any date and time, switch between the flat map and the globe, and download a PNG with the UTC time stamped on it. It's free, with no account required.