Neptune this month

Neptune is in the evening sky, 150° east of the Sun: look after sunset. It shines at magnitude +7.7 in Pisces (binoculars needed).

Magnitude: +7.7
Constellation: Pisces
From the Sun: 150° east
Distance: 29.02 AU (4,341 million km)
Apparent size: 2.3″
Position: RA 0h 10m, Dec -0.4°

Neptune, a blue globe with white high clouds and the Great Dark Spot. NASA / JPL / Voyager-ISS / Aster Cowart, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Rise and set today in six cities

City	Sunset	Neptune rises	Neptune sets	Sunrise
London	16:44	15:49	03:54	06:43
New York	17:59	16:43	04:48	07:19
Los Angeles	18:05	16:40	04:45	07:07
Singapore	18:50	16:53	05:00	06:46
Sydney	19:17	16:43	04:52	06:01
Cape Town	19:09	16:32	04:42	05:52

Local times on 26 October 2026. A planet that rises before sunset and sets after it is up in the evening; one that rises in the small hours is a morning object.

The year ahead

Angular distance from the Sun as seen from Earth. Inside the shaded band (15°) a planet is lost in twilight.

Coming events

Conjunction: 24 March 2027, 23:12 UTC (behind the Sun, not visible)
Opposition: 28 September 2027, 14:18 UTC (opposite the Sun: up all night, closest and brightest)
Conjunction: 26 March 2028, 11:15 UTC (behind the Sun, not visible)
Opposition: 30 September 2028, 02:48 UTC (opposite the Sun: up all night, closest and brightest)
Conjunction: 28 March 2029, 23:24 UTC (behind the Sun, not visible)
Opposition: 2 October 2029, 15:24 UTC (opposite the Sun: up all night, closest and brightest)

Seeing Neptune

Neptune is never visible to the naked eye. At about magnitude 7.8 it needs binoculars and an accurate chart, and a telescope to show it as a tiny blue disc rather than a star. It takes almost 165 years to orbit the Sun, so it shifts only a couple of degrees against the stars in a year.