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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 5:10 
Transit: 12:56 
Sunset: 20:42
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The Sun

Above the horizon.  Rise: 5:10 | Tran: 12:56 | Set: 20:42
Alt: 11.19°   Az: 286.23°   Direction: West-North-West

The Sun is in the constellation of Taurus, at a distance of 151,199,744.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 03h 27m 18s and the Declination is +18° 49’ 01” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of The Sun is -26.72 (data provided by JPL Horizons).

Sunspots Activity

Hilight: a very large active region denominated AR 4079 has appeared and will be very interesting to observe as it transits the Sun until about May 10. Its size is impressive, it's roughly the size of Jupiter and can be spotted with just eclipse glasses. Important: don't look at the Sun without protections like certified eclipse glasses or astronomical filters designed for solar observations. Not doing so can cause permanent eye damage.

Image of the Sun's surface showing the current sunspot activity:

Finder Charts

Map showing The Sun in Taurus on May, 14 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing The Sun in Taurus on May, 14 2025. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

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.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

03h 27m 18s
+18° 49’ 01”
06h 22m 43s
09h 50m 02s

J2000

03h 25m 51s
+18° 43’ 45”

Additional Information

Taurus
-26.72

Rise and Set Times

Today's rise, transit and set times of The Sun from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 71.3°
Max altitude: 57.3°
Azimuth: 288.8°
  • Sun is above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Right now it is placed in the West-North-West direction at an altitude of 11.19° above the horizon.
  • Go to interactive sky chart

If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.

Distance from Earth

The distance of The Sun from Earth is currently 151,199,744.0 kilometers, equivalent to 1.0107078616 Astronomical Units. Light takes 8m 24.348s to travel from The Sun and arrive to us.

151,199,744.0
1.0107078616
8m 24.348s

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.

Chart of the distance of The Sun from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

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

Between 1 January 1600 and 30 December 2499, the closest approach of The Sun to Earth happens on Tue Dec 27 1605 at a distance of 0.983059 Astronomical Units, or 147,063,549 kilometers:

Tue Dec 27 1605
147,063,549
0.983059

NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

Light Curve

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.

Chart of the magnitude of The Sun as a function of time

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

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. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Apparent DiameterDiameter Constellation
2025 May 07 02h 56m 55s +16° 49’ 25” -26.72 1,901.8” Aries
2025 May 08 03h 00m 48s +17° 05’ 49” -26.72 1,901.4” Aries
2025 May 09 03h 04m 42s +17° 21’ 57” -26.72 1,901.0” Aries
2025 May 10 03h 08m 36s +17° 37’ 47” -26.72 1,900.5” Aries
2025 May 11 03h 12m 30s +17° 53’ 18” -26.72 1,900.1” Aries
2025 May 12 03h 16m 25s +18° 08’ 32” -26.72 1,899.7” Aries
2025 May 13 03h 20m 22s +18° 23’ 27” -26.72 1,899.2” Aries
2025 May 14 03h 24m 18s +18° 38’ 05” -26.72 1,898.8” Aries
2025 May 15 03h 28m 14s +18° 52’ 23” -26.72 1,898.4” Taurus
2025 May 16 03h 32m 11s +19° 06’ 22” -26.72 1,898.0” Taurus
2025 May 17 03h 36m 10s +19° 20’ 02” -26.72 1,897.6” Taurus
2025 May 18 03h 40m 09s +19° 33’ 23” -26.72 1,897.2” Taurus
2025 May 19 03h 44m 07s +19° 46’ 22” -26.72 1,896.8” Taurus
2025 May 20 03h 48m 07s +19° 59’ 03” -26.72 1,896.4” Taurus

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