Today's highlights

• Check out the Mars Perseverance Rover Photostream!
• The Sun is in the constellation of Taurus. The Moon is in the constellation of Aries and it is in Waning Crescent (Approaching New Moon) phase.
• Mars and Jupiter are in conjunction with an apparent angular separation of 0° 59’ 55”, currently decreasing. See in Planetarium.
• Comet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) is in the constellation of Ophiucus and its latest estimated magnitude is 11.46. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 6 inches (150mm) or more.
• Comet C/2021 E3 (ZTF) is in the constellation of Octans and its latest estimated magnitude is 11.99. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 8 inches (200mm) or more.
• Comet C/2021 O3 (PANSTARRS) is in the constellation of Camelopardalis and its latest estimated magnitude is 12.35. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 8 inches (200mm) or more.
• The next close approach with a Near Earth Object (NEO) will happen with Asteroid (NEO) 2022 KK3 on May 28 2022 at 08:45 UTC (7 hours 58 minutes), at an approach distance of 750,185 kilometers, or 1.95 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 10.55 kilometers per second.
• Asteroid 29 Amphitrite is at opposition, current elongation 165.2°

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.

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	04h 18m 08s	+21° 22’ 19”	1,893.6”	-26.71		Taurus
	Moon	02h 30m 08s	+12° 36’ 58”	1,800.9”	-6.48		Aries

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	01h 50m 44s	+09° 15’ 05”	14.0”	-3.96		Pisces
	Jupiter	00h 12m 03s	+00° 02’ 56”	36.1”	-2.22		Pisces
	Mars	00h 09m 59s	-00° 48’ 24”	6.3”	0.62		Pisces
	Saturn	21h 50m 13s	-14° 15’ 42”	16.7”	0.71		Capricornus
	Mercury	03h 42m 12s	+16° 44’ 38”	11.9”	4.10		Taurus
	Uranus	02h 53m 41s	+16° 13’ 08”	3.4”	5.89		Aries
	Neptune	23h 43m 00s	-03° 05’ 54”	2.2”	7.78		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 (211)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	18h 27m 27s	+10° 01’ 54”	-	11.46		-	Ophiucus Oph
	C/2021 E3 (ZTF)	23h 31m 08s	-74° 42’ 38”	-	11.99		-	Octans Oct
	C/2021 O3 (PANSTARRS)	09h 12m 54s	+81° 36’ 20”	-	12.35		-	Camelopardalis Cam
	C/2021 P4 (ATLAS)	06h 01m 06s	+55° 49’ 45”	-	13.00		-	Auriga Aur
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	07h 28m 36s	+09° 28’ 47”	-	13.42		-	Canis Minoris CMi
	C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)	11h 47m 14s	-09° 20’ 04”	-	13.68		-	Crater Crt
	C/2020 V2 (ZTF)	09h 59m 12s	+58° 46’ 13”	-	14.07		-	Ursa Major UMa
	45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova	06h 20m 24s	+24° 53’ 29”	-	14.09		-	Gemini Gem
	22P/Kopff	23h 59m 38s	-02° 06’ 00”	-	14.45		-	Pisces Psc
	117P/Helin-Roman-Alu 1	19h 08m 41s	-29° 23’ 00”	-	14.52		-	Sagittarius Sgr
	C/2020 K1 (PANSTARRS)	18h 42m 58s	+18° 36’ 52”	-	14.71		-	Hercules Her
	C/2022 E3 (ZTF)	19h 58m 52s	+21° 10’ 00”	-	14.92		-	Sagitta Sge
	116P/Wild 4	10h 10m 06s	+12° 58’ 54”	-	15.09		-	Leo Leo
	C/2021 A1 (Leonard)	18h 35m 06s	-38° 46’ 58”	-	15.33		-	Corona Australis CrA
	9P/Tempel 1	22h 31m 44s	-20° 06’ 46”	-	15.43		-	Aquarius Aqr
	C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS)	06h 29m 51s	-43° 57’ 03”	-	15.45		-	Puppis Pup
	135P/Shoemaker-Levy 8	16h 33m 15s	-16° 17’ 40”	-	15.46		-	Ophiucus Oph
	19P/Borrelly	07h 55m 47s	+42° 11’ 33”	-	15.67		-	Lynx Lyn
	51P/Harrington	21h 32m 46s	-18° 11’ 36”	-	15.85		-	Capricornus Cap
	C/2020 J1 (SONEAR)	12h 13m 56s	+31° 53’ 33”	-	16.37		-	Coma Com

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 15m 10s	-13° 55’ 00”	7.47		Aquarius
	1 Ceres	06h 22m 14s	+26° 48’ 37”	8.79		Gemini
	2 Pallas	02h 59m 39s	-01° 27’ 14”	9.57		Eridanus
	29 Amphitrite	17h 03m 50s	-32° 11’ 54”	9.86		Scorpius
	10 Hygiea	13h 58m 19s	-17° 13’ 16”	9.92		Virgo
	6 Hebe	03h 41m 21s	+09° 30’ 07”	9.96		Taurus
	3 Juno	22h 41m 58s	-00° 35’ 48”	10.22		Aquarius
	15 Eunomia	12h 44m 36s	-21° 28’ 46”	10.44		Corvus
	18 Melpomene	14h 48m 33s	-00° 12’ 52”	10.53		Virgo
	14 Irene	19h 33m 29s	-23° 47’ 40”	10.58		Sagittarius

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
	Eta Aquariids	6 May	22h 30m	-01°	50	bright	1P/Halley
	Daytime Arietids	7 Jun	02h 53m	+24°	50	medium	1566 Icarus ?