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Today's highlights

• NEW! Check out the Mars Perseverance Rover Photostream!
• The Sun is in the constellation of Cancer. The Moon is in the constellation of Taurus and it is in Waning Crescent phase.
• The Sun and Mercury are in conjunction with an apparent angular separation of 1° 49’ 56”, currently increasing. See in Planetarium.
• Comet C/2020 T2 (Palomar) latest observed magnitude is 10.6 and it is in the constellation of Virgo. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 6 inches (150mm) or more.
• Comet 15P/Finlay latest observed magnitude is 11.0 and it is in the constellation of Taurus. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 6 inches (150mm) or more.
• Comet C/2021 O1 (Nishimura) latest estimated magnitude is 11.25 and it is in the constellation of Gemini. 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) 2016 BQ on Aug 14 2021 at 14:35 UTC (12 days 10 hours 33 minutes), at an approach distance of 1,677,856 kilometers, or 4.36 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 4.70 kilometers per second.
• Jupiter is at opposition, current elongation 160.6°
• Saturn is at opposition, current elongation 179.2°
• Asteroid 12 Victoria is at opposition, current elongation 161.9°
• Asteroid 349 Dembowska (1892 T) is at opposition, current elongation 162.9°

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	08h 48m 58s	+17° 47’ 22”	1,890.8”	-26.71		Cancer
	Moon	03h 43m 05s	+18° 03’ 29”	1,772.2”	-9.25		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	10h 59m 28s	+07° 50’ 29”	12.7”	-3.92		Leo
	Jupiter	22h 06m 49s	-12° 49’ 37”	47.5”	-2.84		Aquarius
	Mercury	08h 53m 33s	+19° 15’ 57”	5.0”	-2.05		Cancer
	Saturn	20h 50m 11s	-18° 31’ 10”	18.0”	0.17		Capricornus
	Mars	10h 16m 44s	+11° 50’ 57”	3.6”	1.84		Leo
	Uranus	02h 48m 06s	+15° 45’ 08”	3.5”	5.80		Aries
	Neptune	23h 34m 24s	-04° 01’ 15”	2.3”	7.71		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 (202)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	C/2020 T2 (Palomar)	14h 28m 31s	-04° 16’ 57”	10.6	14.01		5.8'	Virgo Vir
	15P/Finlay	05h 05m 19s	+24° 04’ 31”	11.0	11.48		3.4'	Taurus Tau
	C/2021 O1 (Nishimura)	07h 45m 34s	+31° 26’ 31”	-	11.25		-	Gemini Gem
	7P/Pons-Winnecke	00h 07m 14s	-47° 23’ 17”	11.7	15.86		5.3'	Phoenix Phe
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	06h 11m 50s	+47° 36’ 26”	12.0	13.89		2.9'	Auriga Aur
	4P/Faye	03h 26m 54s	+18° 04’ 37”	12.2	14.20		2.4'	Taurus Tau
	C/2020 J1 (SONEAR)	13h 41m 31s	-07° 19’ 12”	13.0	15.00		2.0'	Virgo Vir
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	17h 08m 00s	+38° 23’ 28”	13.1	14.31		1.8'	Hercules Her
	67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko	01h 39m 33s	+05° 31’ 44”	14.5	13.74		1.1'	Pisces Psc
	246P/NEAT	18h 48m 54s	-35° 11’ 49”	14.2	14.51		0.7'	Sagittarius Sgr
	C/2019 F1 (ATLAS-Africano)	23h 41m 02s	-87° 37’ 50”	14.8	14.72		0.5'	Octans Oct
	C/2020 F5 (MASTER)	23h 28m 57s	-34° 00’ 06”	14.9	15.18		0.6'	Sculptor Scl
	C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)	09h 35m 16s	-22° 14’ 57”	-	15.33		-	Hydra Hya
	19P/Borrelly	00h 16m 09s	-47° 39’ 05”	17.6	15.53		0.6'	Phoenix Phe
	284P/McNaught	23h 23m 26s	-07° 04’ 00”	-	15.86		-	Aquarius Aqr
	6P/d'Arrest	16h 18m 44s	+02° 07’ 29”	-	15.86		-	Serpens Ser
	106P/Schuster	04h 29m 17s	+16° 42’ 07”	-	16.02		-	Taurus Tau
	29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1	04h 36m 00s	+30° 13’ 51”	-	16.09		-	Taurus Tau
	C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS)	12h 00m 48s	-22° 02’ 51”	-	16.10		-	Corvus Crv
	C/2019 N1 (ATLAS)	05h 32m 35s	-57° 02’ 00”	-	16.11		-	Pictor Pic

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	12h 30m 28s	+03° 05’ 00”	7.67		Virgo
	6 Hebe	19h 24m 32s	-13° 04’ 58”	8.61		Sagittarius
	12 Victoria	20h 18m 56s	-01° 15’ 46”	8.78		Aquila
	1 Ceres	03h 57m 48s	+13° 56’ 54”	9.10		Taurus
	2 Pallas	23h 32m 30s	+06° 50’ 18”	9.49		Pisces
	324 Dembowska	21h 53m 50s	-25° 58’ 51”	9.74		Pisces Austrinus
	7 Iris	04h 52m 28s	+24° 57’ 23”	9.87		Taurus
	3 Juno	16h 35m 12s	-05° 55’ 45”	10.69		Ophiucus
	15 Eunomia	10h 12m 11s	+03° 50’ 12”	10.94		Sextans
	8 Flora	09h 15m 27s	+17° 53’ 46”	11.03		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
	Piscis Austrinids	28 Jul	22h 41m	-30°	5	faint
	Alpha Capricornids	30 Jul	20h 30m	-10°	5	bright