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 Libra. The current Right Ascension is 15h 31m 18s and the Declination is -19° 03’ 20”.
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 147,892,781 kilometers, equivalent to 0.988602 Astronomical Units. Light takes 8 minutes and 13.3172 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 -26.77.
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, 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 Nov 11 | 15h 02m 13s | -17° 11’ 52” | -26.76 | 1,937.9” | Libra |
| 2019 Nov 12 | 15h 06m 16s | -17° 28’ 31” | -26.76 | 1,938.3” | Libra |
| 2019 Nov 13 | 15h 10m 19s | -17° 44’ 50” | -26.76 | 1,938.8” | Libra |
| 2019 Nov 14 | 15h 14m 25s | -18° 00’ 52” | -26.77 | 1,939.2” | Libra |
| 2019 Nov 15 | 15h 18m 29s | -18° 16’ 36” | -26.77 | 1,939.7” | Libra |
| 2019 Nov 16 | 15h 22m 36s | -18° 31’ 59” | -26.77 | 1,940.1” | Libra |
| 2019 Nov 17 | 15h 26m 44s | -18° 47’ 03” | -26.77 | 1,940.5” | Libra |
| 2019 Nov 18 | 15h 30m 51s | -19° 01’ 48” | -26.77 | 1,940.9” | Libra |
| 2019 Nov 19 | 15h 35m 00s | -19° 16’ 11” | -26.77 | 1,941.3” | Libra |
| 2019 Nov 20 | 15h 39m 10s | -19° 30’ 15” | -26.77 | 1,941.7” | Libra |
| 2019 Nov 21 | 15h 43m 21s | -19° 43’ 58” | -26.77 | 1,942.1” | Libra |
| 2019 Nov 22 | 15h 47m 31s | -19° 57’ 19” | -26.77 | 1,942.5” | Libra |
| 2019 Nov 23 | 15h 51m 43s | -20° 10’ 18” | -26.77 | 1,942.9” | Libra |
| 2019 Nov 24 | 15h 55m 56s | -20° 22’ 54” | -26.77 | 1,943.3” | Scorpius |