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- NEW: follow New Horizons historical approach to KBO 2014 MU69 (Ultima Thule)
- Find key information, position data and sky charts for Planets, Asteroids, Comets, Interplanetary Probes.
- Use our Observing Guide to plan observations of the Solar System objects visible tonight from your location.
- Create accurate and interactive maps of the sky visible from any location up to the year 2035 using our Online Planetarium.
- Discover our 3D Solar System Simulator
Quick links to data you can find in this page:
- Popular Objects
- Current Solar System Configuration
- The Sun and The Moon Today
- The Planets Today
- Current Planets Apparent Size Comparison
- Brightest Comets Visible Today
- Brightest Asteroids Visible Today
- Active Meteor Showers Visible Today
Popular Objects This Week
Current Solar System Configuration
This interactive 3D model shows the today's configuration of the major bodies of the Solar System along their orbits. It is an experimental feature and it requires a WebGL enabled browser. For more advanced features, check out our 3D Solar System Simulator. Please provide us feedback!
View larger 3D Solar System Simulator
The Sun and the Moon Today
Here is how the Sun and the Moon look like today.
| R.A. | Decl. | Apparent Diameter | MagnitudeMag | ConstellationConst | Map | |||
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Sun | 09h 56m 12s | +12° 33’ 59” | 1,896.3” | -26.72 | Leo |
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Moon | 17h 07m 21s | -18° 57’ 00” | 1,789.6” | -10.71 |
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Ophiucus |
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= current altitude ≥ 30°
= current altitude < 30°
= below the horizonLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
The Planets Today
Key information about the Planets today. Click each row to
go to each planet's detail page. Click the blue 'full screen' icon ()
to view an accurate deep sky chart showing the planet's current position.
| Planet | R.A. | Decl. | Apparent Diameter | MagnitudeMag | ConstellationConst | Map | ||
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Venus | 12h 43m 55s | -06° 41’ 30” | 25.1” | -4.49 |
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Virgo |
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Mars | 20h 09m 03s | -26° 31’ 17” | 22.7” | -2.41 |
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Capricornus |
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Jupiter | 14h 52m 57s | -15° 36’ 25” | 35.1” | -1.99 | Libra |
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Saturn | 18h 10m 55s | -22° 40’ 01” | 17.0” | 1.21 |
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Sagittarius |
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Mercury | 08h 52m 27s | +15° 03’ 47” | 9.0” | 1.33 |
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Cancer |
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Uranus | 02h 00m 59s | +11° 43’ 54” | 3.6” | 5.75 | Aries |
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Neptune | 23h 07m 28s | -06° 42’ 10” | 2.3” | 7.82 | Aquarius |
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= current altitude ≥ 30°
= current altitude < 30°
= below the horizonLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
Current Planets Apparent Size Comparison
9.0”
25.1”
22.7”
35.1”
17.0”
3.6”
2.3”
Images credits: NASA-APL - NASA.
Bright Comets Today
These are the brightest comets currently visible in the sky. The Observed Magnitude and Coma Diameter values are derived from the Comet Observers Database by averaging the values reported in recent observations (more recent than 4 days), when available. The Estimated Magnitude comes from the JPL Horizons ephemerides service and might be inaccurate given the highly dynamic and unpredictable behvior of comets. When available please refer to the Observed Magnitude value and consider the Estimated Magnitude as a directional indication.
Click on each line to go to the comet's detail page, or click the blue 'full screen' icon
()
to view an accurate deep sky chart showing the comet's current position in real time.
Also check the full list of tracked comets (136)
| Comet | R.A. | Decl. | Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs | Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred | Coma DiameterComa Diam | ConstellationConst | Map | ||
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21P/Giacobini-Zinner | 03h 23m 56s | +61° 53’ 48” | 7.7 | 12.28 |
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7.8' | Camelopardalis Cam |
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C/2017 S3 (PANSTARRS) | 10h 00m 23s | +01° 39’ 50” | - | 8.84 |
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- | Sextans Sex |
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C/2016 M1 (PANSTARRS) | 14h 41m 56s | -57° 28’ 41” | - | 12.07 |
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- | Circinus Cir |
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C/2017 T3 (ATLAS) | 10h 21m 18s | -29° 42’ 00” | - | 12.12 |
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- | Antlia Ant |
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C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) | 10h 21m 58s | +51° 44’ 01” | 12.4 | 14.49 | 3.7' | Ursa Major UMa |
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64P/Swift-Gehrels | 00h 09m 45s | +15° 58’ 10” | 13.6 | 12.42 |
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1.4' | Pegasus Peg |
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48P/Johnson | 22h 40m 03s | -25° 13’ 13” | 12.5 | 13.06 | 1.3' | Pisces Austrinus PsA |
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38P/Stephan-Oterma | 04h 15m 40s | +05° 35’ 47” | 13.3 | 13.31 |
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1.0' | Taurus Tau |
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C/2016 N6 (PANSTARRS) | 08h 46m 32s | +22° 56’ 12” | - | 13.46 | - | Cancer Cnc |
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78P/Gehrels 2 | 21h 42m 05s | -04° 12’ 32” | - | 13.56 |
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- | Aquarius Aqr |
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66P/du Toit | 01h 17m 17s | -14° 34’ 31” | - | 14.04 |
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- | Cetus Cet |
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C/2015 O1 (PANSTARRS) | 11h 45m 26s | +39° 19’ 33” | 14.2 | 15.58 |
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1.8' | Ursa Major UMa |
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29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 | 23h 10m 30s | +01° 20’ 51” | - | 14.45 | - | Pisces Psc |
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37P/Forbes | 23h 35m 24s | +06° 04’ 39” | 14.5 | 14.59 |
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0.9' | Pisces Psc |
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C/2017 M4 (ATLAS) | 16h 25m 33s | +25° 54’ 21” | 14.5 | 15.20 |
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0.7' | Hercules Her |
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P/2010 H2 (Vales) | 15h 43m 09s | -22° 58’ 41” | - | 14.74 |
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- | Libra Lib |
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364P/2018 A2 (PANSTARRS) | 02h 31m 13s | -34° 39’ 51” | - | 15.11 |
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- | Fornax For |
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C/2018 L2 (ATLAS) | 14h 21m 51s | -12° 55’ 19” | - | 15.31 |
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- | Virgo Vir |
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C/2017 B3 (LINEAR) | 12h 50m 37s | -64° 21’ 23” | - | 15.43 | - | Crux Cru |
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46P/Wirtanen | 01h 19m 33s | -16° 05’ 14” | 15.7 | 16.92 |
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0.9' | Cetus Cet |
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= current altitude ≥ 30°
= current altitude < 30°
= below the horizonLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
We acknowledge with thanks the comet observations from the COBS Comet Observation Database contributed by observers worldwide and used in this table to report recent comet observations.
Bright Asteroids Today
These are the top 10 brightest asteroids visible tonight. Click on each line to go to the asteroids's detail page, or click the blue 'full screen' icon ()
to view an accurate deep sky chart showing the asteroids's current position in real time. Also check the full list of tracked asteroids and dward planets (64)
| Asteroid | R.A. | Decl. | MagnitudeMag | ConstellationConst | Map | ||
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4 Vesta | 17h 30m 19s | -23° 58’ 22” | 6.74 |
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Ophiucus |
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1 Ceres | 11h 43m 22s | +10° 14’ 50” | 8.76 |
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Virgo |
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2 Pallas | 09h 17m 22s | +00° 29’ 37” | 8.79 |
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Hydra |
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3 Juno | 03h 19m 02s | +09° 45’ 22” | 9.08 |
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Cetus |
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6 Hebe | 05h 18m 26s | +09° 19’ 52” | 9.95 | Orion |
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7 Iris | 09h 46m 21s | +09° 41’ 58” | 10.21 |
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Leo |
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14 Irene | 19h 56m 48s | -29° 45’ 16” | 10.55 |
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Sagittarius |
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29 Amphitrite | 17h 02m 48s | -30° 14’ 00” | 10.63 |
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Scorpius |
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10 Hygiea | 00h 15m 55s | +07° 03’ 47” | 10.66 |
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Pisces |
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15 Eunomia | 14h 41m 36s | -24° 49’ 23” | 10.98 |
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Libra |
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= current altitude ≥ 30°
= current altitude < 30°
= below the horizonLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
Active Meteor Showers Today
This is a list of the currently active meteor showers. The celestial coordinates refer to the meteor shower radiant position, i.e. the point in the sky where the meteors appear to come from. The ZHR value refers to the Zenithal Hourly Rate, i.e. the average number of meteors an individual observer could see in an hour, assuming perfectly dark sky conditions. This number is an estimate, the actual number an observer could see depends on the actual intensity of the shower (which can be highly variable) and on the actual sky conditions. Clicking on the blue square icon will bring you to a sky map showing the radiant position. The data used here is derived from Wikipedia.
| Name | Peak | Radiant R.A. | Radiant Decl. | ZHR | Rating | Parent Object | Map | |
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Perseids | 12 Aug | 03h 12m | +58° | 150 | bright | 109P/Swift-Tuttle |
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Southern Delta Aquariids | 30 Jul | 22h 42m | -16° | 25 | bright |
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Kappa Cygnids | 17 Aug | 19h 06m | +59° | 3 | medium |
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= current altitude ≥ 30°
= current altitude < 30°
= below the horizonLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]