The night sky over Paris at the 2024 Olympic opening ceremony
On 26 July 2024, the Paris Olympic Games opened with a ceremony on the river Seine. For the first time, the athletes' parade took place outside a stadium.
Teams sailed along the river on boats, past many of the city's landmarks, towards the Trocadéro. Rain fell for much of the evening, and the crowds stayed.
The sky above Paris, France on 26 July 2024
The sun was above the horizon, so daylight hid the stars. The chart shows where they were. There was a waning gibbous Moon, 66% lit, but it was below the horizon.
The sun is above the horizon at this moment, so daylight hides the stars and the planets. The tables show where they are in the sky.
- Local time
- 7:30 PM
- Time in UTC
- 26 July 2024 at 5:30 PM UTC
- Sun
- Daylight
- Sun position
- 19° above the horizon
- Moon phase
- waning gibbous Moon
- Moon lit
- 66%
- Moon position
- 33° below the horizon
| Planet | Visible | Direction | Altitude |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury | No | west | 28° |
| Venus | No | west | 27° |
| Mars | No | north-west | -15° |
| Jupiter | No | north-west | -9° |
| Saturn | No | north-east | -36° |
| Uranus | No | north-west | -18° |
| Neptune | No | north-east | -36° |
| Star | Constellation | Direction | Altitude |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arcturus | Boötes | south | 60° |
| Vega | Lyra | east | 41° |
| Capella | Auriga | north-west | 14° |
| Spica | Virgo | south | 29° |
| Pollux | Gemini | west | 19° |
| Deneb | Cygnus | north-east | 27° |
| Regulus | Leo | west | 30° |
| Castor | Gemini | north-west | 20° |
| Alioth | Ursa Major | north-west | 78° |
| Mirfak | Perseus | north | 11° |
35 constellations are above the horizon. Highest in the sky: Canes Venatici, Boötes, Coma Berenices, Draco, Ursa Major, Corona Borealis, Ursa Minor, Hercules, Leo Minor, Serpens, Leo, and Virgo.
What happened that night
Performers sang and danced on the banks, on bridges and on rooftops. Late in the evening, Céline Dion sang 'L'Hymne à l'amour' from the Eiffel Tower.
Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner lit the cauldron. It then rose into the night air on a large balloon above the Tuileries Garden.
Why people remember it
The ceremony turned a whole city into a stage. People watched from the river banks, from windows and from screens around the world.
A star map of this night makes a gift for an athlete, a volunteer, or a couple who were in Paris that summer.
Questions about this night
It shows 7:30pm Central European Summer Time on 26 July 2024, when the ceremony began at the Pont d'Austerlitz, at the start of the boat parade.
French Olympic champions Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner lit it together.
The ceremony began there, at the east end of the route. The boats then sailed west along the Seine to the Trocadéro, where the official part of the ceremony took place.