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 Capricornus. The current Right Ascension is 20h 45m 15s and the Declination is -18° 02’ 05”.
Simplified sky chart showing where The Sun is right now in the sky with respect to the brightest stars and constellations (see full screen Online Planetarium)
Higher 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 147,338,998 kilometers, equivalent to 0.984900 Astronomical Units. Light takes 8 minutes and 11.4700 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, considering the effect of the atmospheric refraction. As the atmospheric 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 Jan 22 | 20h 13m 26s | -19° 54’ 14” | -26.78 | 1,949.9” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 23 | 20h 17m 39s | -19° 40’ 41” | -26.78 | 1,949.7” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 24 | 20h 21m 51s | -19° 26’ 47” | -26.78 | 1,949.5” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 25 | 20h 26m 03s | -19° 12’ 30” | -26.78 | 1,949.3” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 26 | 20h 30m 14s | -18° 57’ 53” | -26.78 | 1,949.1” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 27 | 20h 34m 23s | -18° 42’ 56” | -26.78 | 1,948.9” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 28 | 20h 38m 32s | -18° 27’ 38” | -26.78 | 1,948.6” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 29 | 20h 42m 41s | -18° 11’ 58” | -26.78 | 1,948.4” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 30 | 20h 46m 49s | -17° 56’ 00” | -26.78 | 1,948.2” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Jan 31 | 20h 50m 56s | -17° 39’ 42” | -26.77 | 1,947.9” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Feb 01 | 20h 55m 01s | -17° 23’ 07” | -26.77 | 1,947.7” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Feb 02 | 20h 59m 07s | -17° 06’ 11” | -26.77 | 1,947.4” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Feb 03 | 21h 03m 11s | -16° 48’ 59” | -26.77 | 1,947.1” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Feb 04 | 21h 07m 14s | -16° 31’ 28” | -26.77 | 1,946.9” | Capricornus |