SpaceX Roadster (Starman)
SpaceX Roadster is not a natural celestial object, but rather a man-made object launched by SpaceX in February 2018 as part of the Falcon Heavy test flight. It is a red sports car owned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and was launched as a demonstration of the Falcon Heavy's capabilities. The Roadster is not in a stable orbit around the Sun, but is instead on a heliocentric orbit that will take it to the asteroid belt and then back to the inner Solar System in the future. The Roadster also carries a mannequin named Starman, dressed in a spacesuit, in the driver's seat. The name "Roadster" refers to the type of car that is used as the payload for the Falcon Heavy, while "SpaceX" is the name of the private space exploration company founded by Elon Musk in 2002.
SpaceX Roadster (Starman) is currently in the constellation of Cancer, at a distance of 91,985,139 kilometers from Earth.
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Today's rise, transit and set times of SpaceX Roadster (Starman) from Greenwich, United Kingdom (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):
- SpaceX Roadster is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom.
- Right now it is placed in the West-North-West direction at an altitude of 9° above the horizon.
- Given its current magnitude, SpaceX Roadster is visible only through long exposure photography.
- Go to interactive sky chart
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SpaceX Roadster (Starman) Position and Finder Charts
Field of view: 10x6 degrees
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Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where SpaceX Roadster (Starman) is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.
Also check out Where is SpaceX Roadster (Starman)?, a page that provides all the information needed to find SpaceX Roadster (Starman) in the sky and additional links to sky charts.
SpaceX Roadster (Starman) Distance from Earth
The distance of SpaceX Roadster (Starman) from Earth is currently 91,985,139 kilometers, equivalent to 0.614883 Astronomical Units. Light takes 5 minutes and 6.8294 seconds to travel from SpaceX Roadster (Starman) and arrive to us.
The following chart shows the distance of SpaceX Roadster (Starman) 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 SpaceX Roadster from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.
Closest Approach of SpaceX Roadster (Starman) to Earth
Between 8 February 2018 and 31 December 2089, the closest approach of SpaceX Roadster (Starman) to Earth happens on Thu Feb 8 2018 at a distance of 0.002218 Astronomical Units, or 331,842 kilometers:
NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.
SpaceX Roadster (Starman) Brightness and Light Curve
The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of SpaceX Roadster (Starman), 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.
Visualization of SpaceX Roadster (Starman) Orbit
This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of SpaceX Roadster (Starman) with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of SpaceX Roadster (Starman) and the planets along their orbits in this diagram accurately represents the current configuration of the objects in the Solar System. This is an experimental feature and it requires a WebGL enabled browser. Please provide us feedback!
SpaceX Roadster (Starman) 15 Days Ephemeris
The following table lists the ephemerides of SpaceX Roadster (Starman) computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate SpaceX Roadster (Starman) in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.
| Date | Right AscensionR.A. | DeclinationDec. | MagnitudeMag | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Apr 30 | 08h 01m 49s | +19° 00’ 33” | 26.71 | Cancer |
| 2024 May 01 | 08h 06m 47s | +18° 44’ 22” | 26.72 | Cancer |
| 2024 May 02 | 08h 11m 45s | +18° 27’ 43” | 26.72 | Cancer |
| 2024 May 03 | 08h 16m 42s | +18° 10’ 38” | 26.72 | Cancer |
| 2024 May 04 | 08h 21m 38s | +17° 53’ 07” | 26.73 | Cancer |
| 2024 May 05 | 08h 26m 31s | +17° 35’ 09” | 26.73 | Cancer |
| 2024 May 06 | 08h 31m 23s | +17° 16’ 48” | 26.74 | Cancer |
| 2024 May 07 | 08h 36m 14s | +16° 58’ 03” | 26.75 | Cancer |
| 2024 May 08 | 08h 41m 03s | +16° 38’ 54” | 26.75 | Cancer |
| 2024 May 09 | 08h 45m 50s | +16° 19’ 24” | 26.76 | Cancer |
| 2024 May 10 | 08h 50m 35s | +15° 59’ 35” | 26.77 | Cancer |
| 2024 May 11 | 08h 55m 18s | +15° 39’ 25” | 26.77 | Cancer |
| 2024 May 12 | 09h 00m 00s | +15° 18’ 57” | 26.78 | Cancer |
| 2024 May 13 | 09h 04m 40s | +14° 58’ 13” | 26.79 | Cancer |