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 Aquarius. The current Right Ascension is 22h 08m 46s and the Declination is -11° 25’ 52”.
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 147,874,187 kilometers, equivalent to 0.988478 Astronomical Units. Light takes 8 minutes and 13.2552 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 0.98324386 Astronomical Units, or 147,091,188 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 -26.77.
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 Feb 12 | 21h 39m 11s | -14° 01’ 41” | -26.77 | 1,944.3” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Feb 13 | 21h 43m 09s | -13° 41’ 52” | -26.77 | 1,943.9” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Feb 14 | 21h 47m 03s | -13° 21’ 47” | -26.77 | 1,943.5” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Feb 15 | 21h 50m 58s | -13° 01’ 31” | -26.77 | 1,943.1” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Feb 16 | 21h 54m 52s | -12° 41’ 02” | -26.77 | 1,942.7” | Capricornus |
| 2020 Feb 17 | 21h 58m 45s | -12° 20’ 18” | -26.77 | 1,942.3” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Feb 18 | 22h 02m 39s | -11° 59’ 25” | -26.77 | 1,941.9” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Feb 19 | 22h 06m 30s | -11° 38’ 20” | -26.77 | 1,941.5” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Feb 20 | 22h 10m 22s | -11° 17’ 03” | -26.77 | 1,941.0” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Feb 21 | 22h 14m 12s | -10° 55’ 36” | -26.77 | 1,940.6” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Feb 22 | 22h 18m 02s | -10° 33’ 57” | -26.77 | 1,940.2” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Feb 23 | 22h 21m 51s | -10° 12’ 10” | -26.77 | 1,939.7” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Feb 24 | 22h 25m 41s | -09° 50’ 13” | -26.77 | 1,939.3” | Aquarius |
| 2020 Feb 25 | 22h 29m 29s | -09° 28’ 08” | -26.76 | 1,938.9” | Aquarius |