The Parker Solar Probe is a NASA spacecraft designed to study the Sun and its atmosphere. It was launched on August 12, 2018, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, and is currently orbiting the Sun in a highly elliptical orbit that takes it closer to the Sun than any previous spacecraft. The mission objectives of the Parker Solar Probe are to study the structure and dynamics of the Sun's corona, the Sun's magnetic field, and the solar wind. To achieve this, the probe will make a total of 24 close approaches to the Sun over the course of its mission, getting as close as 3.83 million miles from the Sun's surface, which is about 7 times closer than any previous spacecraft. By studying the Sun up close, the Parker Solar Probe aims to improve our understanding of space weather and its effects on Earth, as well as providing new insights into the fundamental processes that govern stars in the universe.

Find it in the Sky

Chose a date & time and view the position of Parker Solar Probe in the sky on our interactive planetarium.

Time: : UTC

EnglishItaliano Español

Space Probes »

Parker Solar Probe

Above the horizon. Rise: 4:29 | Tran: 12:31 | Set: 20:33

Alt: 13.87° Az: 71.00° Direction: South-West

Parker Solar Probe is in the constellation of Orion, at a distance of 107,924,824.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 05h 52m 12s and the Declination is +22° 36’ 37” (apparent coordinates).

Finder Charts

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

Loading the finder chart...

Star map showing the position of Parker Solar Probe in the constellation of Orion on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.

Loading the finder chart...

Star map showing the position of Parker Solar Probe in the constellation of Orion on F, d Y. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive star map.

The following map uses photographic imagery from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) to realistically visualize the precise position of Parker Solar Probe 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.

Parker Solar Probe
RA: 05h 50m 39s
Dec: +22° 36’ 18”

Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of Parker Solar Probe. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

Right Ascension 05h 52m 12s

Declination +22° 36’ 37”

Hour Angle 17h 35m 38s

Sidereal Time 23h 27m 50s

J2000

Right Ascension 05h 50m 39s

Declination +22° 36’ 18”

Additional Information

Constellation Orion

Rise and Set Times

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

Azimuth: 67.4° RISE 4:29

Max altitude: 61.1° TRANSIT 12:31

Azimuth: 292.5° SET 20:33

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 Parker Solar Probe from Earth is currently 107,924,824.0 kilometers, equivalent to 0.7214328887 Astronomical Units. Light takes 5m 59.998s to travel from Parker Solar Probe and arrive to us.

Distance Km 107,924,824.0

Distance AU 0.7214328887

Light Travel Time 5m 59.998s

The following graph shows the distance of Parker Solar Probe 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.

Chart of the distance of Parker Solar Probe from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)
Note: The values in this chart may not be entirely accurate around the time of closest approach for objects passing very close to Earth at high speed (e.g., Near-Earth Objects).

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

Closest Approach to Earth

In the period between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2026, the closest approach of Parker Solar Probe to Earth happened on Monday 19 August 2024 at a distance of 0.281446 Astronomical Units, or 42,103,721 kilometers:

Date Monday 19 August 2024

Distance Kilometers 42,103,721

Distance AU 0.281446

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

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of Parker Solar Probe relative to the other major objects in the Solar System.

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Parker Solar Probe 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 19 2025	05h 53m 24s	+23° 29’ 13”	N.A.	Taurus
Jun 20 2025	06h 08m 59s	+23° 34’ 24”	N.A.	Gemini
Jun 21 2025	06h 09m 23s	+23° 27’ 19”	N.A.	Gemini
Jun 22 2025	06h 06m 39s	+23° 18’ 36”	N.A.	Gemini
Jun 23 2025	06h 03m 15s	+23° 09’ 16”	N.A.	Gemini
Jun 24 2025	05h 59m 43s	+22° 59’ 27”	N.A.	Taurus
Jun 25 2025	05h 56m 14s	+22° 49’ 19”	N.A.	Orion
Jun 26 2025	05h 52m 54s	+22° 38’ 53”	N.A.	Orion
Jun 27 2025	05h 49m 44s	+22° 28’ 14”	N.A.	Taurus
Jun 28 2025	05h 46m 47s	+22° 17’ 26”	N.A.	Taurus
Jun 29 2025	05h 44m 03s	+22° 06’ 32”	N.A.	Taurus
Jun 30 2025	05h 41m 32s	+21° 55’ 36”	N.A.	Taurus
Jul 01 2025	05h 39m 15s	+21° 44’ 40”	N.A.	Taurus
Jul 02 2025	05h 37m 11s	+21° 33’ 48”	N.A.	Taurus

Ephemeris Calculator

Compute the position of Parker Solar Probe for any date and time between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2026 and display the results on an interactive star map.