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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 7:23 
Transit: 12:14 
Sunset: 17:05
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Space Probes » 

SpaceX Roadster (Starman)

Below the horizon.  Rise: 7:47 | Tran: 12:51 | Set: 17:55
Alt: -40.12°   Az: 312.43°   Direction: North-West

SpaceX Roadster is not a natural celestial object, but rather a man-made object launched by SpaceX in February 2018 as part of the Falcon Heavy test flight. It is a red sports car owned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and was launched as a demonstration of the Falcon Heavy's capabilities. The Roadster is not in a stable orbit around the Sun, but is instead on a heliocentric orbit that will take it to the asteroid belt and then back to the inner Solar System in the future. The Roadster also carries a mannequin named Starman, dressed in a spacesuit, in the driver's seat. The name "Roadster" refers to the type of car that is used as the payload for the Falcon Heavy, while "SpaceX" is the name of the private space exploration company founded by Elon Musk in 2002.

SpaceX Roadster (Starman) is in the constellation of Aquarius, at a distance of 386,798,559.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 22h 15m 41s and the Declination is -10° 32’ 04” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of SpaceX Roadster (Starman) is 28.86 (data provided by JPL Horizons).

Finder Charts

Map showing SpaceX Roadster (Starman) in Aquarius on February, 10 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing SpaceX Roadster (Starman) in Aquarius on February, 10 2025. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

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

SpaceX Roadster
RA: 22h 14m 21s
Dec: -10° 39’ 36”
Deep sky finder chart for SpaceX Roadster (Starman). Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

Also check out Where is SpaceX Roadster (Starman)?, a page that provides all the information needed to find SpaceX Roadster (Starman) in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

22h 15m 41s
-10° 32’ 04”
09h 39m 51s
07h 55m 33s

J2000

22h 14m 21s
-10° 39’ 36”

Additional Information

Aquarius
28.86

Rise and Set Times

Today's rise, transit and set times of SpaceX Roadster (Starman) from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 100.7°
Max altitude: 27.9°
Azimuth: 259.4°
  • SpaceX Roadster is below the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Given its current magnitude, SpaceX Roadster is visible only through long exposure photography.
  • Go to interactive sky chart

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 SpaceX Roadster (Starman) from Earth is currently 386,798,559.0 kilometers, equivalent to 2.5855886664 Astronomical Units. Light takes 21m 30.221s to travel from SpaceX Roadster (Starman) and arrive to us.

386,798,559.0
2.5855886664
21m 30.221s

The following chart shows the distance of SpaceX Roadster (Starman) 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.

Chart of the distance of SpaceX Roadster (Starman) from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

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 SpaceX Roadster from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach

Between 8 February 2018 and 31 December 2089, the closest approach of SpaceX Roadster (Starman) to Earth happens on Thu Feb 8 2018 at a distance of 0.002219 Astronomical Units, or 331,948 kilometers:

Thu Feb 8 2018
331,948
0.002219

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

Light Curve

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of SpaceX Roadster (Starman), according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuracies for objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepancies between the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.

Chart of the magnitude of SpaceX Roadster (Starman) as a function of time

Orbit Visualization

Orbit Diagram of SpaceX Roadster (Starman)

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of SpaceX Roadster (Starman) 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 Feb 03 21h 56m 28s -12° 19’ 38” 28.95 Capricornus
2025 Feb 04 21h 58m 54s -12° 06’ 24” 28.94 Capricornus
2025 Feb 05 22h 01m 20s -11° 53’ 04” 28.93 Aquarius
2025 Feb 06 22h 03m 45s -11° 39’ 38” 28.92 Aquarius
2025 Feb 07 22h 06m 10s -11° 26’ 08” 28.91 Aquarius
2025 Feb 08 22h 08m 36s -11° 12’ 31” 28.90 Aquarius
2025 Feb 09 22h 11m 01s -10° 58’ 51” 28.89 Aquarius
2025 Feb 10 22h 13m 26s -10° 45’ 05” 28.87 Aquarius
2025 Feb 11 22h 15m 50s -10° 31’ 12” 28.86 Aquarius
2025 Feb 12 22h 18m 15s -10° 17’ 16” 28.85 Aquarius
2025 Feb 13 22h 20m 39s -10° 03’ 15” 28.84 Aquarius
2025 Feb 14 22h 23m 04s -09° 49’ 08” 28.82 Aquarius
2025 Feb 15 22h 25m 29s -09° 34’ 57” 28.81 Aquarius
2025 Feb 16 22h 27m 54s -09° 20’ 41” 28.80 Aquarius

Additional Resources