Today's highlights

• Check out the Mars Perseverance Rover Photostream!
• The Sun is in the constellation of Leo. The Moon is in the constellation of Capricornus and it is in Full Moon phase.
• Comet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) is in the constellation of Scorpius and its latest estimated magnitude is 10.97. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 6 inches (150mm) or more.
• Comet 255P/Levy is in the constellation of Gemini and its latest estimated magnitude is 11.42. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 6 inches (150mm) or more.
• Comet C/2021 P4 (ATLAS) is in the constellation of Sextans and its latest estimated magnitude is 12.65. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 10 inches (250mm) or more.
• The next close approach with a Near Earth Object (NEO) will happen with Asteroid (NEO) 2022 PW on Aug 16 2022 at 02:47 UTC (3 days 17 hours 1 minutes), at an approach distance of 528,937 kilometers, or 1.38 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 7.47 kilometers per second.
• The Moon is at opposition, current elongation 173.3°
• Saturn is at opposition, current elongation 177.3°
• Asteroid 4 Vesta is at opposition, current elongation 164.8°

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.

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	09h 27m 10s	+15° 00’ 24”	1,893.6”	-26.71		Leo
	Moon	21h 50m 20s	-18° 43’ 33”	1,977.8”	-12.59		Capricornus

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	08h 11m 03s	+20° 28’ 38”	10.4”	-3.89		Cancer
	Jupiter	00h 31m 56s	+01° 49’ 01”	45.6”	-2.74		Cetus
	Mercury	10h 55m 39s	+07° 01’ 01”	5.9”	-0.08		Leo
	Mars	03h 31m 55s	+17° 28’ 03”	8.7”	0.04		Taurus
	Saturn	21h 38m 14s	-15° 28’ 58”	18.1”	0.32		Capricornus
	Uranus	03h 04m 45s	+16° 59’ 27”	3.6”	5.78		Aries
	Neptune	23h 42m 08s	-03° 15’ 09”	2.3”	7.70		Pisces

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 (214)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	16h 12m 20s	-15° 26’ 10”	-	10.97		-	Scorpius Sco
	255P/Levy	06h 56m 57s	+27° 25’ 13”	-	11.42		-	Gemini Gem
	C/2021 P4 (ATLAS)	10h 29m 24s	+03° 44’ 10”	-	12.65		-	Sextans Sex
	51P/Harrington	22h 40m 10s	-20° 18’ 31”	-	12.95		-	Aquarius Aqr
	C/2020 V2 (ZTF)	10h 10m 22s	+52° 49’ 54”	-	13.41		-	Ursa Major UMa
	C/2022 E3 (ZTF)	17h 04m 40s	+35° 18’ 34”	-	13.64		-	Hercules Her
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	08h 47m 41s	-01° 52’ 10”	-	13.95		-	Hydra Hya
	C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)	12h 38m 56s	-03° 07’ 31”	-	14.09		-	Virgo Vir
	C/2020 K1 (PANSTARRS)	17h 26m 30s	+04° 55’ 54”	-	14.12		-	Ophiucus Oph
	C/2021 E3 (ZTF)	09h 47m 26s	-42° 06’ 11”	-	14.26		-	Vela Vel
	5D/Brorsen (Lost)	23h 13m 40s	-30° 33’ 26”	-	14.45		-	Sculptor Scl
	117P/Helin-Roman-Alu 1	18h 25m 22s	-32° 26’ 05”	-	14.62		-	Sagittarius Sgr
	22P/Kopff	01h 40m 08s	+04° 13’ 32”	-	15.11		-	Pisces Psc
	81P/Wild 2	08h 15m 39s	+18° 54’ 14”	-	15.38		-	Cancer Cnc
	C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS)	06h 48m 39s	-40° 34’ 28”	-	15.57		-	Puppis Pup
	116P/Wild 4	12h 16m 37s	-01° 56’ 38”	-	15.78		-	Virgo Vir
	9P/Tempel 1	22h 59m 19s	-27° 04’ 20”	-	16.05		-	Pisces Austrinus PsA
	29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1	06h 26m 10s	+29° 06’ 11”	-	16.34		-	Auriga Aur
	135P/Shoemaker-Levy 8	16h 22m 19s	-15° 33’ 13”	-	16.35		-	Scorpius Sco
	C/2020 F5 (MASTER)	00h 03m 20s	+13° 53’ 48”	-	16.46		-	Pegasus Peg

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	22h 28m 32s	-18° 49’ 03”	6.14		Aquarius
	1 Ceres	08h 49m 42s	+23° 17’ 17”	8.54		Cancer
	3 Juno	23h 16m 07s	+00° 16’ 38”	8.60		Pisces
	2 Pallas	05h 17m 21s	-04° 52’ 37”	9.27		Orion
	192 Nausikaa	19h 52m 06s	-28° 42’ 09”	10.03		Sagittarius
	9 Metis	19h 41m 54s	-28° 37’ 01”	10.12		Sagittarius
	6 Hebe	06h 29m 18s	+13° 18’ 53”	10.31		Gemini
	324 Bamberga	02h 47m 27s	+26° 21’ 08”	10.59		Aries
	14 Irene	18h 35m 11s	-29° 10’ 06”	10.78		Sagittarius
	29 Amphitrite	16h 25m 03s	-29° 14’ 53”	10.88		Scorpius

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
	Perseids	12 Aug	03h 12m	+58°	150	bright	109P/Swift-Tuttle
	Southern Delta Aquariids	30 Jul	22h 41m	-16°	25	bright
	Alpha Capricornids	30 Jul	20h 30m	-10°	5	bright
	Kappa Cygnids	17 Aug	19h 06m	+59°	3	medium