Space facts, computed today
29 facts, each one a sentence you can quote on its own. Every number was computed for at 18:00 UTC by the same engine behind our calculators and API, and the page is rebuilt by our daily almanac refresh.
On this page
Right now
- Earth to Sun
- 149.1 million km
- Age of sunlight
- 8 minutes 17 seconds
- Earth to Moon
- 404,230 km
- Moon illuminated
- 41 percent
- Earth's orbital speed
- 29.89 km per second
- Light time to Jupiter
- 47 minutes 28 seconds
Computed for 18:00 UTC on October 17, 2026. With JavaScript on, these six numbers update every second from your device clock; the numbered facts stay at the time above.
The sky behind these facts
The Moon, the planets and the stars the facts below keep naming, drawn by the renderer behind our Sky Map. It shows the sky over the city for your time zone (an approximation) and starts at tonight at 9 pm if the Sun is up. The buttons steer it; the numbered facts stay fixed at the time printed above.
Loads when you scroll to it. It needs JavaScript; the facts below do not.
Earth and the Sun
On October 17, 2026, Earth is 149.1 million kilometers (0.9966 AU) from the Sun, 0.3 percent closer than the 149.6-million-kilometer average.
The sunlight reaching Earth on October 17, 2026 left the Sun 8 minutes 17 seconds earlier.
Earth's next perihelion is on January 3, 2027 at 02:08 UTC (in 78 days), when it will be 147.1 million kilometers from the Sun.
On October 17, 2026, the Sun stands 9.5° south of the celestial equator and is drifting south by 0.36° per day.
On October 17, 2026, daylight at 40° N lasts 11 hours 5 minutes, 2 minutes 31 seconds shorter than the day before.
On October 17, 2026, daylight at 40° N is 31 percent of the way from the December solstice length (9 hours 20 minutes) to the June solstice length (15 hours 1 minute).
The next December solstice is on December 21, 2026 at 20:50 UTC (in 65 days).
On October 17, 2026, Earth is moving along its orbit at 29.89 kilometers per second (about 107,600 kilometers per hour), against an average of about 29.78.
Since January 1, 2026 (00:00 UTC), Earth has traveled 743.3 million kilometers along its orbit, sweeping 284° as seen from the Sun, as of October 17, 2026.
Since January 1, 2026 (00:00 UTC), Earth has rotated 290.54 times relative to the stars as of October 17, 2026, 0.79 more than the 289.75 solar days elapsed.
The Moon
At 18:00 UTC on October 17, 2026, the Moon is 404,230 kilometers from Earth, 5.2 percent farther than its 384,400-kilometer average distance.
At 18:00 UTC on October 17, 2026, the light you see from the Moon left its surface 1.35 seconds earlier.
The Moon's next perigee is on October 28, 2026 at 18:04 UTC (in 11 days) at 364,397 kilometers, and the next apogee follows on November 13, 2026 at 405,608 kilometers.
At 18:00 UTC on October 17, 2026, the Moon is 41 percent illuminated and waxing, 7.1 days past new moon.
The next full moon is on October 26, 2026 at 04:12 UTC (in 9 days), with the Moon 368,859 kilometers away.
The next new moon is on November 9, 2026 at 07:03 UTC (in 23 days).
The next full moon inside the 360,000-kilometer supermoon line is on December 24, 2026 (in 68 days), when the Moon will be 356,729 kilometers away.
The planets
On October 17, 2026, Mercury (24°) is in the evening sky, more than 15° east of the Sun (angle from the Sun in parentheses).
On October 17, 2026, Mars (73°) and Jupiter (62°) are in the morning sky; Saturn (166°) is up most of the night; Venus (12°) is lost in the Sun's glare (angle from the Sun in parentheses).
On October 17, 2026, Venus is 2 percent illuminated at magnitude -4.2, 12° from the Sun and 42.0 million kilometers from Earth.
On October 17, 2026, Jupiter is 5.71 AU (853.7 million kilometers) from Earth, so its light takes 47 minutes 28 seconds to reach us.
The next planet to reach opposition is Jupiter, on February 11, 2027 (in 117 days), when it will be 4.36 AU from Earth at magnitude -2.6.
Eclipses and meteors
The next eclipse is an annular solar eclipse on February 6, 2027 (in 112 days), with greatest eclipse at 16:00 UTC.
The most recent eclipse was a partial lunar eclipse on August 28, 2026, 50 days before October 17, 2026.
The next total solar eclipse is on August 2, 2027, 289 days after October 17, 2026, in Saros series 136.
The next meteor shower to peak is the Orionids on October 21, 2026 at 18:09 UTC (in 4 days), rated at a zenithal hourly rate of 20, with the Moon 78 percent illuminated then.
The Geminids, listed at a zenithal hourly rate of 150, peak on December 14, 2026 (in 58 days), with the Moon 25 percent illuminated then.
The Sun's own cycle
On October 17, 2026, Solar Cycle 25, which NOAA dates from December 2019, is 6.8 years old, about 62 percent of a nominal 11-year cycle.
As of October 17, 2026, the latest monthly mean sunspot number in NOAA's record is 60.3, for September 2026, against 216.0 in August 2024, the highest month of Solar Cycle 25 so far.
How these are computed
Positions come from astronomy-engine, the same build our API serves, so a fact here and the matching API answer cannot disagree. The eclipse dates come from our eclipse catalog, the meteor rates from the International Meteor Organization working list, and the sunspot numbers from NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center. Each fact names its own method in the line beneath it.
Three conventions are worth knowing. Every time is UTC. Planets are sorted into evening sky, morning sky or lost in the Sun's glare by their angle from the Sun, a sky-wide label that does not account for your horizon or your latitude. Daylight is for 40° N, because day length depends on latitude and one number needs one latitude. Our methodology page covers accuracy and sources, and Today in the Sky turns the same engine toward your location.