The Sun
The Sun Sky Charts and Coordinates
This is a simplified sky chart, showing where The Sun is now with respect to the brightest stars and constellations.
More advanced sky charts are available on TheSkyLive for this object: 1) the Online Planetarium which is interactive and allows to select dates and additional objects to visualize; and 2) the Live Position and Data Tracker which provides the highest precision position data and features deep sky imagery from the Digitized Sky Survey.
High Precision Live Sky Chart
The Sun Rise and Set Times
Today's The Sun rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]. All times are relative to the Europe/London timezone.
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.
Sunspots Today
The Sun 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 Sep 18 | 11h 40m 50s | +02° 04’ 17” | -26.73 | 1,909.4” | Virgo |
| 2018 Sep 19 | 11h 44m 26s | +01° 41’ 03” | -26.73 | 1,909.9” | Virgo |
| 2018 Sep 20 | 11h 48m 01s | +01° 17’ 48” | -26.73 | 1,910.4” | Virgo |
| 2018 Sep 21 | 11h 51m 35s | +00° 54’ 30” | -26.73 | 1,911.0” | Virgo |
| 2018 Sep 22 | 11h 55m 11s | +00° 31’ 11” | -26.73 | 1,911.5” | Virgo |
| 2018 Sep 23 | 11h 58m 46s | +00° 07’ 51” | -26.73 | 1,912.1” | Virgo |
| 2018 Sep 24 | 12h 02m 21s | -00° 15’ 28” | -26.74 | 1,912.6” | Virgo |
| 2018 Sep 25 | 12h 05m 57s | -00° 38’ 49” | -26.74 | 1,913.1” | Virgo |
| 2018 Sep 26 | 12h 09m 33s | -01° 02’ 12” | -26.74 | 1,913.7” | Virgo |
| 2018 Sep 27 | 12h 13m 09s | -01° 25’ 32” | -26.74 | 1,914.2” | Virgo |
| 2018 Sep 28 | 12h 16m 45s | -01° 48’ 53” | -26.74 | 1,914.7” | Virgo |
| 2018 Sep 29 | 12h 20m 21s | -02° 12’ 14” | -26.74 | 1,915.3” | Virgo |
| 2018 Sep 30 | 12h 23m 58s | -02° 35’ 34” | -26.74 | 1,915.8” | Virgo |
| 2018 Oct 01 | 12h 27m 34s | -02° 58’ 50” | -26.74 | 1,916.3” | Virgo |
Distance of The Sun from Earth
The following chart shows the distance of The Sun from Earth as a function of time. Distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with a 2 days interval.
The reported distances might be inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of Sun is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.
Light Curve of The Sun
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 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 | |