How to use this map
- Now: the map opens at the current time and updates automatically.
- Any time: pick a date and drag the time slider (it runs in the local time of the selected place), or press play to watch a whole day.
- Your place: the orange dot marks the selected place. The world clock below lists local times in cities around the world and whether it is day, twilight or night there.
What you see
- Daylight: the bright part of the map, where the sun is above the horizon.
- Twilight: the graded band along the edge of the night. It is narrow near the equator and wide at high latitudes, where the sun crosses the horizon at a shallow angle.
- Night: the darkest part, where the sun is more than 18° below the horizon.
- The sun symbol: the subsolar point, where the sun is straight overhead.
Why the shape changes
At every moment, almost exactly half of the Earth is in daylight. What changes is how that half is tilted. Around the June solstice the North Pole leans towards the sun: the Arctic has 24 hours of daylight and the day side covers most of the northern hemisphere. Around the December solstice the situation is reversed. At the equinoxes the terminator passes through both poles and days are nearly equal everywhere. The guide why days are longer in summer explains the geometry.
For a single place
For exact times at one location, use the sunrise and sunset calculator, or open one of the city pages from the world clock.
Last updated September 23, 2026