Today's quick hilights

• The Sun is in the constellation of Leo. The Moon is in the constellation of Taurus and it is in Waning Crescent phase.
• Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) latest observed magnitude is 6.2 and it is in the constellation of Bootes. It should be easily visible with the help of a small binocular.
• Comet 88P/Howell latest observed magnitude is 9.9 and it is in the constellation of Virgo. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 80mm aperture or a small telescope.
• Comet C/2019 U6 (Lemmon) latest observed magnitude is 10.4 and it is in the constellation of Bootes. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 80mm aperture or a small telescope.
• The next close approach with a Near Earth Object (NEO) will happen with Asteroid (NEO) 2020 PJ2 on Aug 16 2020 at 05:02 UTC (19 hours 43 minutes), at an approach distance of 1,945,715 kilometers, or 5.06 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 10.04 kilometers per second.

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	09h 40m 17s	+13° 56’ 12”	1,894.7”	-26.71		Leo
	Moon	06h 21m 34s	+23° 34’ 35”	1,858.9”	-8.02		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	06h 29m 55s	+20° 06’ 03”	23.0”	-4.42		Gemini
	Jupiter	19h 19m 54s	-22° 33’ 33”	45.1”	-2.66		Sagittarius
	Mercury	09h 33m 13s	+16° 20’ 24”	5.0”	-1.95		Leo
	Mars	01h 33m 00s	+05° 18’ 27”	16.4”	-1.41		Pisces
	Saturn	19h 54m 35s	-21° 05’ 59”	17.7”	1.02		Sagittarius
	Uranus	02h 32m 32s	+14° 30’ 02”	3.6”	5.76		Aries
	Neptune	23h 24m 54s	-04° 59’ 13”	2.3”	7.82		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 (193)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)	13h 47m 22s	+07° 51’ 52”	6.2	12.00		6.1'	Bootes Boo
	88P/Howell	14h 18m 12s	-15° 52’ 56”	9.9	15.00		4.3'	Virgo Vir
	C/2019 U6 (Lemmon)	14h 20m 02s	+20° 40’ 50”	10.4	13.84		3.2'	Bootes Boo
	C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS)	13h 48m 42s	+11° 23’ 04”	10.7	13.00		2.6'	Bootes Boo
	C/2019 N1 (ATLAS)	12h 18m 59s	+32° 33’ 58”	12.4	15.00		2.8'	Coma Com
	Encke's Comet	14h 15m 33s	-28° 34’ 41”	-	12.49		-	Hydra Hya
	C/2018 N2 (ASASSN)	12h 25m 18s	+80° 40’ 29”	14.3	16.00		0.5'	Camelopardalis Cam
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	00h 55m 58s	+62° 12’ 46”	14.3	16.00		0.3'	Cassiopeia Cas
	C/2020 F8 (SWAN)	06h 44m 45s	+17° 31’ 50”	-	14.48		-	Gemini Gem
	C/2020 K8 (Catalina-ATLAS)	05h 41m 57s	+25° 41’ 24”	-	15.26		-	Taurus Tau
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	17h 08m 04s	+48° 50’ 36”	15.7	16.26		0.8'	Hercules Her
	17P/Holmes	17h 51m 40s	-40° 30’ 06”	-	16.00		-	Scorpius Sco
	29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1	02h 51m 29s	+26° 29’ 38”	-	16.00		-	Aries Ari
	C/2019 F1 (ATLAS-Africano)	13h 56m 02s	-25° 55’ 26”	-	16.00		-	Hydra Hya
	C/2019 K7 (Smith)	19h 01m 14s	+20° 09’ 15”	-	16.00		-	Sagitta Sge
	C/2020 F5 (MASTER)	15h 21m 28s	-78° 01’ 59”	-	16.00		-	Apus Aps
	C/2020 J1 (SONEAR)	18h 41m 50s	-64° 52’ 04”	-	16.00		-	Pavo Pav
	P/2010 H2 (Vales)	23h 58m 37s	-19° 20’ 59”	-	16.00		-	Cetus Cet
	C/2020 P1 (NEOWISE)	12h 27m 47s	-70° 00’ 05”	-	16.25		-	Musca Mus
	28P/Neujmin 1	14h 19m 08s	-28° 42’ 35”	-	17.00		-	Hydra Hya

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
	1 Ceres	23h 03m 25s	-22° 23’ 56”	7.84		Aquarius
	4 Vesta	08h 15m 27s	+20° 39’ 44”	8.15		Cancer
	8 Flora	02h 32m 46s	+06° 38’ 49”	9.69		Cetus
	2 Pallas	18h 43m 02s	+16° 32’ 24”	9.83		Hercules
	7 Iris	17h 52m 22s	-19° 49’ 16”	9.86		Sagittarius
	20 Massalia	22h 40m 38s	-07° 22’ 59”	10.04		Aquarius
	15 Eunomia	06h 33m 37s	+28° 30’ 30”	10.11		Auriga
	19 Fortuna	23h 34m 06s	-00° 28’ 25”	10.32		Pisces
	11 Parthenope	02h 20m 28s	+08° 16’ 28”	10.69		Cetus
	9 Metis	09h 11m 25s	+19° 45’ 07”	10.89		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
	Perseids	12 Aug	03h 12m	+58°	150	bright	109P/Swift-Tuttle
	Southern Delta Aquariids	30 Jul	22h 41m	-16°	25	bright
	Kappa Cygnids	17 Aug	19h 06m	+59°	3	medium