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Today's highlights

• NEW! Check out the Mars Perseverance Rover Photostream!
• The Sun is in the constellation of Pisces. The Moon is in the constellation of Taurus and it is in Waxing Crescent phase.
• Comet C/2020 R4 (ATLAS) latest observed magnitude is 9.6 and it is in the constellation of Hercules. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 80mm aperture or a small telescope.
• Comet C/2021 D1 (SWAN) latest observed magnitude is 11.7 and it is in the constellation of Perseus. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 8 inches (200mm) or more.
• Comet C/2020 T2 (Palomar) latest observed magnitude is 11.9 and it is in the constellation of Canes Venatici. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 8 inches (200mm) or more.
• The next close approach with a Near Earth Object (NEO) will happen with Asteroid (NEO) 2021 GM3 on Apr 19 2021 at 13:54 UTC (2 days 16 hours 19 minutes), at an approach distance of 805,132 kilometers, or 2.09 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 5.17 kilometers per second.
• Asteroid 9 Metis is at opposition, current elongation 163.2°

Your guide to the Solar System and the night sky

• Check the upcoming close approaches between Earth and NEO (Near Earth Object) Asteroids.
• Find 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 December 31 2099 using our Online Planetarium.
• Discover our 3D Solar System Simulator and visualize orbits and relative positions of Solar System objects at any point in time up to December 31 2099.
• Discover facts about thousands of stars and deep sky objects for each Constellation of the night sky.

Quick links

• 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

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!

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
	Sun	01h 39m 32s	+10° 20’ 10”	1,911.7”	-26.73		Pisces
	Moon	05h 08m 58s	+23° 00’ 48”	1,773.5”	-8.21		Taurus

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
	Venus	02h 01m 51s	+11° 29’ 11”	9.7”	-3.92		Aries
	Jupiter	21h 53m 23s	-13° 33’ 26”	35.2”	-2.14		Capricornus
	Mercury	01h 31m 41s	+08° 35’ 55”	5.0”	-1.97		Pisces
	Saturn	20h 59m 07s	-17° 40’ 29”	15.8”	1.40		Capricornus
	Mars	05h 41m 06s	+24° 50’ 08”	4.9”	1.45		Taurus
	Uranus	02h 29m 18s	+14° 17’ 54”	3.4”	5.87		Aries
	Neptune	23h 31m 07s	-04° 17’ 35”	2.2”	7.95		Aquarius

Current Planets Apparent Size Comparison

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 ephemeris service and might be inaccurate given the highly dynamic and unpredictable behavior 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 (196)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	C/2020 R4 (ATLAS)	18h 00m 59s	+16° 58’ 45”	9.6	12.57		5.0'	Hercules Her
	C/2021 D1 (SWAN)	03h 42m 06s	+34° 04’ 28”	11.7	15.38		2.8'	Perseus Per
	C/2020 T2 (Palomar)	13h 55m 03s	+34° 07’ 57”	11.9	14.03		4.0'	Canes Venatici CVn
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	02h 49m 27s	+50° 54’ 06”	12.6	14.60		1.2'	Perseus Per
	C/2020 J1 (SONEAR)	16h 44m 46s	-36° 57’ 52”	13.2	14.02		0.8'	Scorpius Sco
	7P/Pons-Winnecke	18h 42m 08s	+07° 17’ 49”	13.9	15.26		1.3'	Ophiucus Oph
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	18h 26m 07s	+40° 50’ 30”	14.1	14.95		1.0'	Lyra Lyr
	C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)	08h 04m 06s	-31° 13’ 52”	14.1	15.45		0.6'	Puppis Pup
	C/2019 N1 (ATLAS)	04h 04m 02s	-62° 28’ 08”	14.4	14.66		0.8'	Reticulum Ret
	C/2019 F1 (ATLAS-Africano)	19h 45m 11s	-70° 27’ 13”	14.8	14.76		0.9'	Pavo Pav
	156P/Russell-LINEAR	06h 25m 21s	+39° 30’ 03”	14.8	19.82		1.1'	Auriga Aur
	246P/NEAT	19h 15m 21s	-24° 59’ 03”	14.8	14.85		0.7'	Sagittarius Sgr
	C/2021 A4 (NEOWISE)	04h 12m 48s	-12° 03’ 11”	14.8	17.37		0.7'	Eridanus Eri
	75D/Kohoutek (Lost)	05h 14m 47s	+21° 41’ 49”	-	14.83		-	Taurus Tau
	15P/Finlay	21h 26m 03s	-22° 07’ 47”	-	14.93		-	Capricornus Cap
	C/2020 F5 (MASTER)	23h 09m 27s	-38° 59’ 54”	15.3	15.28		0.5'	Grus Gru
	C/2021 A7 (NEOWISE)	06h 45m 57s	-23° 37’ 27”	15.5	16.85		0.4'	Canis Majoris CMa
	297P/Beshore	18h 42m 52s	-18° 20’ 58”	-	15.89		-	Sagittarius Sgr
	297P/Beshore (2008 J2)	18h 42m 52s	-18° 20’ 58”	-	15.89		-	Sagittarius Sgr
	C/2020 S8 (Lemmon)	14h 37m 43s	+14° 02’ 05”	15.9	16.26		0.7'	Bootes Boo

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 dwarf planets (79)

	Asteroid	R.A.	Decl.	MagnitudeMag		ConstellationConst	Map
	4 Vesta	10h 48m 41s	+18° 37’ 59”	6.54		Leo
	1 Ceres	01h 28m 47s	+01° 51’ 20”	9.00		Cetus
	9 Metis	12h 53m 47s	+01° 58’ 59”	9.73		Virgo
	7 Iris	00h 33m 11s	+07° 31’ 05”	9.91		Pisces
	15 Eunomia	07h 58m 54s	+14° 29’ 09”	10.31		Cancer
	29 Amphitrite	09h 56m 57s	+14° 01’ 53”	10.35		Leo
	6 Hebe	19h 39m 02s	-09° 03’ 39”	10.53		Aquila
	2 Pallas	22h 34m 10s	+05° 04’ 11”	10.59		Pegasus
	3 Juno	17h 35m 29s	-07° 27’ 14”	10.75		Ophiucus
	14 Irene	08h 30m 12s	+28° 58’ 17”	10.79		Cancer

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
	Lyrids	22 Apr	18h 06m	+34°	18	bright	C/1861 G1 (Thatcher)
	Pi Puppids	23 Apr	07h 17m	-45°	variable	bright	26P/Grigg-Skjellerup