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Ephemeris: 09/08/2026 – Where is the Sun heading to?

September 8, 2026 Leave a comment

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, September 8th. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 8:06, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:14. The Moon, 2 days before new, will rise at 5:18 tomorrow morning.

We know that the Earth orbits the sun, but where is the sun going? The sun orbits the center of the Milky Way moving something like 137 miles (220 kilometers) per second in the direction of Cygnus the Swan. It takes about 200 to 250 million years to orbit the center of the galaxy. However, the sun has a motion with respect to the general flow of stars in our neighborhood orbiting the center of the galaxy. Where the sun is heading is it called the solar apex. That point is it just a little bit south of the star Vega which is high in the south in the evening. Vega is the brightest star of this Summer Triangle, which includes Altair to the southeast and Deneb to the east. The sun’s motioned towards the apex that is about 8 miles (13 kilometers) per second.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

The Solar Apex, where the sun is headed.
The Solar Apex, where the sun is headed compared to the cicular orbit around the center of the galaxy. The general circular orbit would point the sun at a point just north of Deneb in our sky at 10 PM on September 8th. The deviation of the apex point shows the sun has a slightly elliptical orbit that bobs above and below the galactic plane. Star field from Stellarium, apex point position from Wikipedia.

Categories: Concepts, Ephemeris Program, Milky Way, Sun