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- 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 | 20h 01m 43s | -20° 29’ 39” | 1,950.4” | -26.78 | Sagittarius |
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Moon | 05h 47m 57s | +20° 48’ 19” | 1,963.6” | -12.05 |
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Taurus |
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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 | 16h 43m 28s | -19° 04’ 50” | 21.6” | -4.44 |
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Ophiucus |
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Jupiter | 16h 55m 45s | -21° 59’ 22” | 32.0” | -1.83 |
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Ophiucus |
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Mercury | 19h 32m 39s | -23° 25’ 32” | 4.7” | -0.85 |
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Sagittarius |
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Mars | 00h 43m 20s | +04° 44’ 11” | 6.6” | 0.71 |
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Pisces |
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Saturn | 18h 57m 17s | -22° 19’ 03” | 14.6” | 1.41 |
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Sagittarius |
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Uranus | 01h 46m 17s | +10° 24’ 57” | 3.5” | 5.79 | Pisces |
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Neptune | 23h 03m 30s | -07° 04’ 53” | 2.2” | 7.94 | Aquarius |
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= current altitude ≥ 30°
= current altitude < 30°
= below the horizonLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
Current Planets Apparent Size Comparison
4.7”
21.6”
6.6”
32.0”
14.6”
3.5”
2.2”
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 (143)
| Comet | R.A. | Decl. | Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs | Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred | Coma DiameterComa Diam | ConstellationConst | Map | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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46P/Wirtanen | 09h 02m 17s | +58° 15’ 59” | 6.6 | 12.73 |
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32.2' | Ursa Major UMa |
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C/2018 Y1 (Iwamoto) | 13h 56m 08s | -21° 03’ 10” | 9.3 | 13.05 |
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6.2' | Virgo Vir |
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64P/Swift-Gehrels | 03h 40m 13s | +27° 53’ 15” | 9.5 | 16.19 |
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4.0' | Taurus Tau |
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C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) | 15h 44m 14s | +41° 21’ 24” | 10.5 | 15.33 |
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6.0' | Bootes Boo |
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C/2016 M1 (PANSTARRS) | 01h 43m 03s | -81° 11’ 50” | 10.9 | 13.83 | 3.2' | Hydrus Hyi |
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38P/Stephan-Oterma | 08h 32m 42s | +45° 38’ 25” | 11.0 | 11.55 |
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3.2' | Lynx Lyn |
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78P/Gehrels 2 | 23h 26m 12s | -01° 59’ 00” | - | 13.04 | - | Pisces Psc |
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C/2016 N6 (PANSTARRS) | 06h 40m 33s | -21° 21’ 56” | 13.4 | 13.80 |
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0.7' | Canis Majoris CMa |
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C/2018 L2 (ATLAS) | 19h 52m 04s | +25° 03’ 44” | - | 14.29 |
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- | Vulpecula Vul |
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60P/Tsuchinshan 2 | 11h 39m 37s | -03° 50’ 55” | - | 14.67 | - | Virgo Vir |
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C/2018 N2 (ASASSN) | 01h 02m 26s | -29° 17’ 13” | - | 14.78 | - | Sculptor Scl |
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C/2018 A3 (ATLAS) | 07h 43m 39s | +76° 33’ 20” | - | 15.20 |
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- | Camelopardalis Cam |
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29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 | 23h 09m 11s | +00° 59’ 50” | - | 15.24 |
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- | Pisces Psc |
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C/2017 M4 (ATLAS) | 17h 20m 15s | -13° 28’ 27” | - | 15.28 |
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- | Serpens Ser |
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21P/Giacobini-Zinner | 06h 08m 30s | -32° 00’ 20” | 15.5 | 16.11 |
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0.5' | Columba Col |
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C/2017 B3 (LINEAR) | 20h 43m 44s | -62° 44’ 42” | - | 15.64 | - | Pavo Pav |
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C/2018 A6 (Gibbs) | 11h 14m 03s | -47° 56’ 27” | - | 15.67 |
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- | Centaurus Cen |
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C/2015 O1 (PANSTARRS) | 11h 11m 01s | +42° 00’ 32” | - | 15.72 | - | Ursa Major UMa |
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P/2010 H2 (Vales) | 18h 59m 13s | -29° 18’ 55” | - | 15.83 | - | Sagittarius Sgr |
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C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) | 03h 00m 40s | -02° 41’ 17” | - | 15.99 | - | Eridanus Eri |
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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 (68)
| Asteroid | R.A. | Decl. | MagnitudeMag | ConstellationConst | Map | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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4 Vesta | 21h 47m 02s | -17° 34’ 50” | 8.04 | Capricornus |
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3 Juno | 03h 41m 04s | +00° 22’ 30” | 8.57 |
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Taurus |
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2 Pallas | 13h 44m 36s | -04° 15’ 03” | 8.79 |
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Virgo |
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1 Ceres | 15h 46m 25s | -13° 25’ 00” | 8.85 |
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Libra |
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6 Hebe | 06h 03m 14s | +08° 43’ 00” | 8.85 |
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Orion |
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433 Eros | 04h 39m 57s | +36° 03’ 55” | 9.13 |
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Perseus |
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324 Bamberga | 08h 21m 00s | +28° 03’ 43” | 10.38 | Cancer |
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7 Iris | 13h 10m 00s | -14° 01’ 56” | 10.61 |
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Virgo |
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324 Dembowska | 11h 20m 07s | +14° 40’ 25” | 10.81 |
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Leo |
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15 Eunomia | 18h 41m 48s | -26° 11’ 02” | 10.82 | Sagittarius |
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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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Dec. Leonis Minorids | 20 Dec | 10h 41m | +30° | 5 | medium |
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Gamma Ursae Minorids | 20 Jan | 15h 11m | +67° | 3 | medium |
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= current altitude ≥ 30°
= current altitude < 30°
= below the horizonLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]