Europa Clipper

Europa Clipper is in the constellation of Leo, at a distance of 407,291,617.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 10h 15m 41s and the Declination is +12° 32’ 12” (apparent coordinates).

Mission Objectives

The goal of NASA's Europa Clipper mission is to determine if Europa, the smallest of Jupiter's Galilean Moons, possesses conditions suitable for life. In particular, Europa Clipper will: seek definitive evidence of the existence of a vast water ocean beneath Europa's thick ice crust; analyze the chemical composition of Europa's surface, atmosphere and potential ocean; perform geologic measurements and find evidence of geothermal activity.

Launch, Trajectory and Timeline

Europa Clipper was launched on October 14 2024 at 16:06 UTC. It is expected to arrive at the Jupiter system on April 11 2030. It will use two gravity assists to get there. The first will be a gravity assist by planet Mars on March 1st 2025 and the second by Earth on December 3rd 2026.

After its arrival, Europa Clipper is planned to complete 75 orbits around Jupiter and perform 49 flybys of Europa. This orbit plan is designed to avoid orbiting Europa directly and exposing the spacecraft to the intense radiation effects caused by Jupiter's magnetosphere. Gravity-assists from Europa, Ganymede and Callisto will be used to target different Europa close approach points on each flyby, the closest of which will be at altitudes of about 25 km.

The mission is planned to end in September 2034 when, based on the current plans, Europa Clipper will be directed to impact on Ganymede, approximately 30 days after its 49th and last Europa flyby.

Interesting Facts

With its dry mass 3241 kg, main body of 3 x 4.7 x 4 meters and solar power arrays of 2 x 14.2 x 4.1 meters, Europa Clipper is a particularly large spacecraft. In particular, according to NASA, Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft developed to date for an interplanetary mission. When solar arrays and antennas are fully deployed, the spacecraft spans 30.5 meters. The spacecraft also carries 2750 kg of propellant (monomethylhydrazine or MMH, and dinitrogen tetroxide or NTO).

The spacecraft carries a tantalum plate carrying engravings of the poem "In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa" by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, the Drake Equation, and over 2.6 million names submitted by the public (including TheSkyLive author's!).

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of Europa Clipper in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

The following map uses photographic imagery from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) to realistically visualize the precise position of Europa Clipper against the stars in the background. The horizontal size of the map measures 60 arcminutes. Click on the image to access a more detailed full-screen view.

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

J2000

Additional Information

Rise and Set Times

The following table lists today's rise, transit and set times of Europa Clipper from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.

Distance from Earth

The distance of Europa Clipper from Earth is currently 407,291,617.0 kilometers, equivalent to 2.7225762980 Astronomical Units. Light takes 22m 38.579s to travel from Europa Clipper and arrive to us.

The following graph shows the distance of Europa Clipper from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance is measured in Astronomical Units and the data is sampled with an interval of 1 day.

The value of the distance of Europa Clipper from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the live position tracker.

Closest Approach to Earth

In the period between October 15, 2024 and February 6, 2031, the closest approach of Europa Clipper to Earth will happen on Friday 4 December 2026 at a distance of 0.001095 Astronomical Units, or 163,855 kilometers:

Note: the values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Europa Clipper computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
Jun 26 2025	10h 04m 24s	+13° 37’ 32”	N.A.	Leo
Jun 27 2025	10h 06m 00s	+13° 28’ 22”	N.A.	Leo
Jun 28 2025	10h 07m 36s	+13° 19’ 10”	N.A.	Leo
Jun 29 2025	10h 09m 13s	+13° 09’ 57”	N.A.	Leo
Jun 30 2025	10h 10m 48s	+13° 00’ 41”	N.A.	Leo
Jul 01 2025	10h 12m 24s	+12° 51’ 23”	N.A.	Leo
Jul 02 2025	10h 14m 00s	+12° 42’ 03”	N.A.	Leo
Jul 03 2025	10h 15m 36s	+12° 32’ 40”	N.A.	Leo
Jul 04 2025	10h 17m 12s	+12° 23’ 17”	N.A.	Leo
Jul 05 2025	10h 18m 48s	+12° 13’ 50”	N.A.	Leo
Jul 06 2025	10h 20m 24s	+12° 04’ 23”	N.A.	Leo
Jul 07 2025	10h 22m 00s	+11° 54’ 53”	N.A.	Leo
Jul 08 2025	10h 23m 36s	+11° 45’ 22”	N.A.	Leo
Jul 09 2025	10h 25m 12s	+11° 35’ 48”	N.A.	Leo

Additional Resources on TheSkyLive

• Europa Clipper: Complete reference information on TheSkyLive.com.
• Where is Europa Clipper?: Key information on where to find Europa Clipper in the sky.
• Distance of Europa Clipper from Earth: Find out how far Europa Clipper is from Earth right now.
• Rise and Set Times: Rise and set times of Europa Clipper from your location.
• Interactive Sky Map: Planetarium-style interactive visualization of Europa Clipper's position in the sky.
• Live Position Tracker: High precision real time tracker of Europa Clipper's position using deep space imagery.
• Ephemeris: 15 days Europa Clipper's computed ephemeris.
• Orbit Visualization: 3D interactive visualization showing the orbit of Europa Clipper with respect to the major Solar System objects.