Europa Clipper

Europa Clipper is in the constellation of Cancer, at a distance of 309,482,547.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 09h 02m 07s and the Declination is +19° 00’ 29” (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

High precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Europa Clipper is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Europa Clipper?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Europa Clipper in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

J2000

Additional Information

Rise and Set Times

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 309,482,547.0 kilometers, equivalent to 2.0687630482 Astronomical Units. Light takes 17m 12.323s to travel from Europa Clipper and arrive to us.

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

The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of Europa Clipper from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach

Between 15 October 2024 and 6 February 2031, the closest approach of Europa Clipper to Earth happens on Fri Dec 4 2026 at a distance of 0.001095 Astronomical Units, or 163,855 kilometers:

NOTE: 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
2025 May 11	08h 50m 39s	+19° 52’ 31”	N.A.	Cancer
2025 May 12	08h 52m 13s	+19° 45’ 27”	N.A.	Cancer
2025 May 13	08h 53m 48s	+19° 38’ 22”	N.A.	Cancer
2025 May 14	08h 55m 24s	+19° 31’ 12”	N.A.	Cancer
2025 May 15	08h 56m 59s	+19° 24’ 00”	N.A.	Cancer
2025 May 16	08h 58m 35s	+19° 16’ 43”	N.A.	Cancer
2025 May 17	09h 00m 11s	+19° 09’ 25”	N.A.	Cancer
2025 May 18	09h 01m 47s	+19° 02’ 03”	N.A.	Cancer
2025 May 19	09h 03m 23s	+18° 54’ 38”	N.A.	Cancer
2025 May 20	09h 04m 59s	+18° 47’ 09”	N.A.	Cancer
2025 May 21	09h 06m 34s	+18° 39’ 38”	N.A.	Cancer
2025 May 22	09h 08m 10s	+18° 32’ 03”	N.A.	Cancer
2025 May 23	09h 09m 46s	+18° 24’ 26”	N.A.	Cancer
2025 May 24	09h 11m 22s	+18° 16’ 46”	N.A.	Cancer

Additional Resources on TheSkyLive

• Europa Clipper: Complete reference information on TheSkyLive.com
• Where is Europa Clipper?: Key information on locating Europa Clipper in the sky.
• Distance from Earth: Find out how far Europa Clipper is from Earth right now.
• Rise and Set Times: Europa Clipper's rise and set times from your location.
• Interactive Sky Map: planetarium-style interactive visualization of Europa Clipper's position in the sky.
• Live Position Tracker: high precision position tracker with 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.