Today's quick hilights
- The Sun is in the constellation of Ophiucus. The Moon is in the constellation of Cancer and it is in Waning Gibbous phase.
- Jupiter and Saturn are in conjunction with an apparent angular separation of 1° 49’ 30”, currently decreasing. See in Planetarium.
- Comet C/2020 S3 (Erasmus) latest estimated magnitude is 7.78 and it is in the constellation of Libra. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 40-50mm aperture or a small telescope.
- Comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) latest observed magnitude is 8.2 and it is in the constellation of Auriga. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 40-50mm aperture or a small telescope.
- Comet 88P/Howell latest observed magnitude is 10.5 and it is in the constellation of Capricornus. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 6 inches (150mm) or more.
- The next close approach with a Near Earth Object (NEO) will happen with Asteroid (NEO) 2018 PK21 on Dec 8 2020 at 02:24 UTC (2 days 22 hours 59 minutes), at an approach distance of 4,681,198 kilometers, or 12.18 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 3.13 kilometers per second.
- Asteroid 16 Psyche is at opposition, current elongation 174.2°
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
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 | 16h 46m 59s | -22° 22’ 38” | 1,947.3” | -26.77 | Ophiucus |
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Moon | 08h 44m 09s | +21° 42’ 56” | 1,851.3” | -11.28 |
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Cancer |
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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 | 14h 58m 16s | -15° 17’ 35” | 11.5” | -3.90 |
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Libra |
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Jupiter | 19h 55m 14s | -21° 16’ 28” | 33.4” | -2.01 | Sagittarius |
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Mars | 01h 05m 03s | +07° 03’ 00” | 13.9” | -1.01 |
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Pisces |
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Mercury | 16h 11m 49s | -21° 02’ 31” | 4.8” | -0.83 |
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Scorpius |
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Saturn | 20h 02m 48s | -20° 48’ 51” | 15.1” | 1.43 | Sagittarius |
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Uranus | 02h 19m 36s | +13° 26’ 29” | 3.7” | 5.69 | Aries |
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Neptune | 23h 17m 08s | -05° 47’ 42” | 2.3” | 7.88 | Aquarius |
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= current altitude ≥ 30°
= current altitude < 30°
= below the horizonLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
Current Planets Apparent Size Comparison
4.8”
11.5”
13.9”
33.4”
15.1”
3.7”
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 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 (203)
| Comet | R.A. | Decl. | Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs | Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred | Coma DiameterComa Diam | ConstellationConst | Map | ||
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Comet C/2020 S3 | 15h 11m 30s | -23° 39’ 01” | - | 7.78 |
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C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) | 05h 22m 59s | +29° 42’ 58” | 8.2 | 13.89 |
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9.0' | Auriga Aur |
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88P/Howell | 20h 53m 45s | -21° 09’ 03” | 10.5 | 15.30 |
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2.8' | Capricornus Cap |
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11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR | 01h 02m 51s | +10° 14’ 00” | 13.6 | 17.52 |
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3.5' | Pisces Psc |
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C/2019 N1 (ATLAS) | 14h 01m 16s | -24° 04’ 20” | - | 13.92 |
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- | Hydra Hya |
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C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) | 23h 55m 41s | +60° 34’ 26” | 14.1 | 15.13 | 1.0' | Cassiopeia Cas |
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C/2018 N2 (ASASSN) | 15h 57m 56s | +59° 55’ 00” | 14.7 | 16.07 |
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1.6' | Draco Dra |
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C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) | 17h 36m 09s | +36° 07’ 12” | 15.0 | 15.84 | 1.3' | Hercules Her |
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C/2020 F5 (MASTER) | 19h 49m 34s | -61° 07’ 51” | - | 15.48 | - | Pavo Pav |
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C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) | 16h 19m 52s | -22° 09’ 22” | - | 15.49 |
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- | Scorpius Sco |
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29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 | 02h 19m 20s | +25° 29’ 51” | - | 15.54 |
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- | Aries Ari |
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C/2020 J1 (SONEAR) | 17h 28m 35s | -44° 28’ 15” | - | 15.55 | - | Scorpius Sco |
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C/2020 F8 (SWAN) | 04h 48m 48s | -11° 15’ 27” | - | 15.83 |
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- | Eridanus Eri |
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C/2019 F1 (ATLAS-Africano) | 15h 40m 14s | -41° 33’ 05” | - | 15.88 | - | Lupus Lup |
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C/2020 N1 (PANSTARRS) | 23h 30m 14s | +40° 20’ 44” | - | 15.95 |
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- | Andromeda And |
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17P/Holmes | 20h 18m 10s | -20° 57’ 29” | 17.0 | 16.24 | 2.0' | Capricornus Cap |
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C/2017 B3 (LINEAR) | 23h 42m 19s | +03° 04’ 10” | 16.5 | 17.79 |
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1.1' | Pisces Psc |
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C/2019 T4 (ATLAS) | 08h 32m 53s | -38° 18’ 08” | - | 16.55 |
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- | Vela Vel |
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P/2010 H2 (Vales) | 23h 19m 24s | -19° 11’ 47” | - | 16.70 |
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- | Aquarius Aqr |
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C/2019 K7 (Smith) | 18h 38m 07s | +19° 51’ 50” | - | 16.74 | - | Hercules Her |
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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 dwarf planets (79)
| Asteroid | R.A. | Decl. | MagnitudeMag | ConstellationConst | Map | ||
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4 Vesta | 11h 09m 33s | +10° 25’ 46” | 7.59 |
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Leo |
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8 Flora | 02h 17m 08s | +03° 54’ 20” | 8.72 |
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Cetus |
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1 Ceres | 22h 41m 14s | -19° 46’ 47” | 9.12 |
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15 Eunomia | 08h 48m 25s | +18° 43’ 11” | 9.29 |
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Cancer |
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16 Psyche | 05h 03m 15s | +18° 02’ 56” | 9.41 |
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Taurus |
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79 Eurynome | 05h 25m 12s | +16° 14’ 34” | 10.01 |
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Taurus |
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13 Egeria | 06h 13m 10s | +41° 39’ 26” | 10.21 |
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Auriga |
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11 Parthenope | 01h 37m 52s | +02° 56’ 28” | 10.40 |
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Pisces |
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18 Melpomene | 09h 26m 52s | +07° 20’ 56” | 10.53 |
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Leo |
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7 Iris | 19h 58m 06s | -16° 55’ 41” | 10.56 |
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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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Geminids | 14 Dec | 07h 30m | +33° | 120 | medium | 3200 Phaethon |
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Puppid-Velids | multiple | 08h 11m | -45° | 10 | medium |
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Northern Taurids | 12 Nov | 03h 53m | +22° | 5 | bright | Comet Encke |
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Dec. Leonis Minorids | 20 Dec | 10h 41m | +30° | 5 | medium |
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Sigma Hydrids | 11 Dec | 08h 30m | +02° | 3 | medium |
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November Orionids | 28 Nov | 06h 05m | +16° | 3 | medium |
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Monocerotids | 8 Dec | 06h 42m | +08° | 2 | medium | C/1917 F1 (Mellish) |
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Phoenicids | 2 Dec | 01h 11m | -53° | variable | medium | 289P/Blanpain |
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= current altitude ≥ 30°
= current altitude < 30°
= below the horizonLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]