Solar Longitude Clock

Planet
Current Ls*

*Interpolation of timeseries obtained from the JPL/Horizons portal, calculated using JPL's DE440 and DE441 ephemerides.

Description of Solar Longitude

Solar longitude, often written Ls can be used as a kind of calendar (this is an approximation, see below for more details) to measure the time of year for solar system bodies other than the Earth. Since the Gregorian Calendar is based on Earth's 365.25 day orbital period, it isn't as useful for other planetary bodies that have much shorter or longer seasons. Instead, solar longitude denotes the time of year as an angle measured from the northern spring equinox, which occurs when the Sun crosses the equator into the northern hemisphere. Each season starts at a Ls multiple of 90° as follows:

LsNorthern hemisphereSouthern hemisphere
Spring (vernal) equinoxFall (autumnal) equinox
90°Summer solsticeWinter solstice
180°Fall (autumnal) equinoxSpring (vernal) equinox
270°Winter solsticeSummer solstice
On Earth, one month corresponds to a solar longitude interval of approximately 30°, but that is not always true. Seasons on planets like Mars or Saturn, which have more eccentric orbits than Earth, have wildly varying durations. For example, during the current Saturn year, northern summer will last about 7.95 terrestrial years (May 2017 to May 2025), while northern winter will only last 6.78 terrestrial years (April 2032 to January 2039), even though are both exactly 90° long when measured in terms of solar longitude. Because of this, planetary scientists often use solar longitude in papers when discussing seasonal phenomena like weather, climate, solar radiation, or space weather.

Since solar longitude is difficult to calculate I provide tables below listing the solar longitudes of each body from 1960 to 2070. In the future I plan to add a tool to look up Ls, but for now I include a clock indicating the current Ls at each body.

Additional details


Solar longitude tables for solar system objects

Click a solar system body for a table of solar longitude between 1960 and 2070.
PlanetsSmall bodies