Today's Highlights

• The Sun is in the constellation of Taurus. The Moon is in the constellation of Leo and it is in First Quarter phase.
• Comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) is in the constellation of Andromeda and its latest observed magnitude is 11.3. It should be visible with the help of a telescope having an aperture of 6 inches (150mm) or more.
• Comet C/2023 E1 (ATLAS) is in the constellation of Draco and its latest observed magnitude is 11.8. It should be visible with the help of a telescope having an aperture of 8 inches (200mm) or more.
• Comet 81P/Wild is in the constellation of Ophiucus and its latest observed magnitude is 12.0. It should be visible with the help of a telescope having an aperture of 8 inches (200mm) or more.
• emoji_objectsCheck out the full list of visible Bright Comets
• The next close approach with a Near Earth Object (NEO) will happen with Asteroid (NEO) 2023 KU2 on May 28 2023 at 15:42 UTC (16 hours 15 minutes), at an approach distance of 1,085,586 kilometers, or 2.82 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 14.67 kilometers per second.
• Asteroid 11 Parthenope is at opposition, current elongation 167.1°

Popular Objects This Week

Popular objects this week

The Solar System Today

This interactive 3D view shows the current positions of the major bodies of the Solar System and the brightest comets. For more advanced features, check out our 3D Solar System Viewer.

The Sun and the Moon Today

Here is how the Sun and the Moon look like today.

	R.A.	Decl.	Apparent Diameter	MagnitudeMag	ConstellationConst	Charts
launcher_assistant_on Sun	04h 16m 52s	+21° 19’ 14”	1,893.8”	-26.71 trending_flat	Taurus	location_searching map
launcher_assistant_on Moon	10h 49m 31s	+11° 06’ 22”	1,781.5”	-10.13 trending_up	Leo	map

The Planets Today

This table shows current essential information about the planets. By clicking on each row it is possible to view full details for each planet.

Planet	R.A.	Decl.	Apparent Diameter	MagnitudeMag	ConstellationConst	Charts
launcher_assistant_on Venus	07h 33m 42s	+24° 28’ 01”	21.7”	-4.34 trending_up	Gemini	location_searching map
launcher_assistant_on Jupiter	02h 01m 35s	+11° 13’ 18”	33.4”	-2.09 trending_flat	Aries	location_searching map
launcher_assistant_on Mercury	02h 40m 45s	+11° 52’ 42”	8.4”	0.59 trending_up	Aries	location_searching map
launcher_assistant_on Saturn	22h 35m 22s	-10° 30’ 40”	16.5”	0.87 trending_flat	Aquarius	location_searching map
launcher_assistant_on Mars	08h 26m 18s	+20° 44’ 43”	4.7”	1.56 trending_flat	Cancer	location_searching map
launcher_assistant_on Uranus	03h 09m 10s	+17° 20’ 48”	3.4”	5.88 trending_flat	Aries	location_searching map
launcher_assistant_on Neptune	23h 51m 05s	-02° 16’ 30”	2.2”	7.78 trending_flat	Pisces	location_searching map

Apparent Size of the Planets Today

The apparent size of a planet depends on its size and the distance from Earth. The larger the distance, the smaller the apparent size. The image below shows a comparison between the apparent size of the planets if they were observed today.

Credits for the planet images: NASA-APL - NASA.

Additional Information

• List of Bright Comets. This is a list of the bright comets that are currently visible, or that will likely become bright and visible in the future. To provide the most accurate information, the data about visibility and other visual features is updated several times every day.
• List of Bright Asteroids. This list is similar to the list above, and provides constantly updated information about the brightest asteroids and dwarf planets visible in the sky.

Active Meteor Showers Visible 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. The data used here is derived from Wikipedia.

	Name	Peak	Radiant R.A.	Radiant Decl.	ZHR	Rating	Parent Object	Charts
launcher_assistant_on	Eta Aquariids	6 May	22h 30m	-01°	50	bright	1P/Halley	map
launcher_assistant_on	Daytime Arietids	7 Jun	02h 53m	+24°	50	medium	1566 Icarus ?	map