The Sun
Are There Sunspots Today?
Here is a recent image of the Sun's surface showing the current sunspot activity:
The Sun Position
The Sun is currently in the constellation of Ophiucus. The current Right Ascension is 17h 10m 33s and the Declination is -22° 57’ 01”.
Simplified sky chart showing where The Sun is right now in the sky with respect to the brightest stars and constellations (see fuillscreen Online Planetarium)
Hihgher precision deep sky finder chart showing where The Sun is right now (view fullscreen)
Also check out Where is The Sun?, a page that provides all the information needed to find The Sun in the sky and additional links to sky charts.
The Sun Distance
The distance of The Sun from Earth is currently 147,304,716 kilometers, equivalent to 0.984671 Astronomical Units. Light takes 8 minutes and 11.3556 seconds to travel from The Sun and arrive to us.
The following chart shows the distance of The Sun 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 Sun from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.
Closest approach of The Sun to Earth
Between January 2013 and December 2100 the closest approach of The Sun to Earth happens on Sun Jan 5 2020 at a distance of 0.98324388 Astronomical Units, or 147,091,191 kilometers:
NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.
The Sun brightness
The current visual magnitude of The Sun is -26.78.
The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of The Sun, 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.
The Sun rise and set times
Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London
Today's The Sun rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):
The rise and set times are defined as the time at which the upper limb of The Sun touches the horizon, consideting the effect of the atmospheric refraction. As the atmoshpere conditions cannot be modeled precisely the times reported here should be considered correct with an approximation of few minutes.
The Sun Physical Data
The following shows the known values of the most important physical parameters of The Sun. Source: JPL Small-Body Database
| Physical Parameter | Value | Relative to Earth |
|---|---|---|
| Diameter | 1391684 km | 109.2202 |
| Mass | 1989000 x 1024 kg | 333,043.6574 |
| Density | 1.41 gr/cm3 | 0.2557 |
| Escape Velocity | 618.02 km/s | 55.2297 |
| Sideral Rotation | 587.2800 hours | 24.5370 |
| Absolute Magnitude | -26.8 |
The Sun 15 Days Ephemeris
The following table lists the ephemerides of The Sun computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate The Sun in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.
| Date | Right AscensionR.A. | DeclinationDec. | MagnitudeMag | Apparent DiameterDiameter | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 Dec 04 | 16h 38m 47s | -22° 07’ 31” | -26.77 | 1,946.7” | Ophiucus |
| 2019 Dec 05 | 16h 43m 08s | -22° 15’ 42” | -26.77 | 1,947.0” | Ophiucus |
| 2019 Dec 06 | 16h 47m 29s | -22° 23’ 26” | -26.77 | 1,947.3” | Ophiucus |
| 2019 Dec 07 | 16h 51m 51s | -22° 30’ 46” | -26.77 | 1,947.6” | Ophiucus |
| 2019 Dec 08 | 16h 56m 12s | -22° 37’ 39” | -26.77 | 1,947.9” | Ophiucus |
| 2019 Dec 09 | 17h 00m 34s | -22° 44’ 04” | -26.78 | 1,948.1” | Ophiucus |
| 2019 Dec 10 | 17h 04m 58s | -22° 50’ 03” | -26.78 | 1,948.4” | Ophiucus |
| 2019 Dec 11 | 17h 09m 21s | -22° 55’ 36” | -26.78 | 1,948.7” | Ophiucus |
| 2019 Dec 12 | 17h 13m 45s | -23° 00’ 41” | -26.78 | 1,948.9” | Ophiucus |
| 2019 Dec 13 | 17h 18m 10s | -23° 05’ 18” | -26.78 | 1,949.1” | Ophiucus |
| 2019 Dec 14 | 17h 22m 35s | -23° 09’ 29” | -26.78 | 1,949.3” | Ophiucus |
| 2019 Dec 15 | 17h 26m 59s | -23° 13’ 10” | -26.78 | 1,949.5” | Ophiucus |
| 2019 Dec 16 | 17h 31m 24s | -23° 16’ 26” | -26.78 | 1,949.7” | Ophiucus |
| 2019 Dec 17 | 17h 35m 51s | -23° 19’ 13” | -26.78 | 1,949.9” | Ophiucus |