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 Leo. The current Right Ascension is 10h 00m 25s and the Declination is +12° 11’ 25”.
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 151,349,148 kilometers, equivalent to 1.011707 Astronomical Units. Light takes 8 minutes and 24.8464 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 -26.72.
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 Aug 14 | 09h 32m 17s | +14° 35’ 49” | -26.71 | 1,894.0” | Leo |
| 2019 Aug 15 | 09h 36m 02s | +14° 17’ 23” | -26.71 | 1,894.3” | Leo |
| 2019 Aug 16 | 09h 39m 47s | +13° 58’ 45” | -26.71 | 1,894.7” | Leo |
| 2019 Aug 17 | 09h 43m 32s | +13° 39’ 52” | -26.71 | 1,895.0” | Leo |
| 2019 Aug 18 | 09h 47m 16s | +13° 20’ 47” | -26.72 | 1,895.4” | Leo |
| 2019 Aug 19 | 09h 50m 58s | +13° 01’ 28” | -26.72 | 1,895.7” | Leo |
| 2019 Aug 20 | 09h 54m 42s | +12° 41’ 58” | -26.72 | 1,896.1” | Leo |
| 2019 Aug 21 | 09h 58m 23s | +12° 22’ 15” | -26.72 | 1,896.4” | Leo |
| 2019 Aug 22 | 10h 02m 06s | +12° 02’ 21” | -26.72 | 1,896.8” | Leo |
| 2019 Aug 23 | 10h 05m 48s | +11° 42’ 15” | -26.72 | 1,897.2” | Leo |
| 2019 Aug 24 | 10h 09m 29s | +11° 21’ 59” | -26.72 | 1,897.6” | Leo |
| 2019 Aug 25 | 10h 13m 09s | +11° 01’ 31” | -26.72 | 1,898.0” | Leo |
| 2019 Aug 26 | 10h 16m 50s | +10° 40’ 51” | -26.72 | 1,898.4” | Leo |
| 2019 Aug 27 | 10h 20m 29s | +10° 20’ 03” | -26.72 | 1,898.8” | Leo |