Today's quick hilights

• The Sun is in the constellation of Virgo. The Moon is in the constellation of Ophiucus and it is in Waxing Crescent phase.
• Comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) latest observed magnitude is 8.6 and it is in the constellation of Lepus. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 60-70mm aperture or a small telescope.
• Comet 88P/Howell latest observed magnitude is 9.2 and it is in the constellation of Sagittarius. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 60-70mm aperture or a small telescope.
• Comet C/2020 P1 (NEOWISE) latest estimated magnitude is 13.00 and it is in the constellation of Virgo. 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) 2020 UQ on Oct 20 2020 at 01:17 UTC (10 minutes), at an approach distance of 1,960,547 kilometers, or 5.10 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 15.69 kilometers per second.
• Mars is at opposition, current elongation 171.7°
• Uranus is at opposition, current elongation 167.9°
• Asteroid 8 Flora is at opposition, current elongation 160.7°
• Asteroid 11 Parthenope is at opposition, current elongation 170.9°

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	13h 39m 32s	-10° 20’ 25”	1,927.0”	-26.75		Virgo
	Moon	16h 42m 03s	-21° 58’ 43”	1,961.0”	-8.03		Ophiucus

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	11h 25m 22s	+05° 04’ 34”	13.9”	-4.01		Leo
	Mars	01h 13m 44s	+05° 00’ 29”	21.8”	-2.50		Pisces
	Jupiter	19h 23m 37s	-22° 29’ 32”	37.4”	-2.24		Sagittarius
	Saturn	19h 49m 44s	-21° 22’ 40”	16.1”	1.36		Sagittarius
	Mercury	14h 22m 45s	-16° 54’ 17”	9.7”	2.28		Libra
	Uranus	02h 26m 32s	+14° 00’ 16”	3.7”	5.66		Aries
	Neptune	23h 18m 42s	-05° 39’ 01”	2.3”	7.83		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 (197)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	C/2020 M3 (ATLAS)	05h 01m 04s	-22° 28’ 40”	8.6	13.81		10.3'	Lepus Lep
	88P/Howell	18h 01m 12s	-27° 19’ 22”	9.2	14.78		4.3'	Sagittarius Sgr
	C/2020 P1 (NEOWISE)	12h 49m 41s	-02° 28’ 49”	-	13.00		-	Virgo Vir
	C/2019 U6 (Lemmon)	17h 07m 23s	+23° 03’ 03”	13.1	17.68		3.7'	Hercules Her
	C/2020 Q1 (Borisov)	19h 58m 16s	+30° 27’ 10”	13.6	21.28		1.7'	Cygnus Cyg
	C/2018 N2 (ASASSN)	14h 59m 34s	+64° 41’ 44”	14.3	15.86		1.2'	Draco Dra
	C/2019 N1 (ATLAS)	13h 15m 58s	+00° 35’ 46”	-	14.34		-	Virgo Vir
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	00h 11m 30s	+65° 27’ 59”	14.5	15.52		0.8'	Cassiopeia Cas
	C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS)	15h 19m 49s	-12° 42’ 30”	-	14.89		-	Libra Lib
	C/2018 F4 (PANSTARRS)	02h 12m 50s	-37° 19’ 33”	14.9	16.92		0.8'	Fornax For
	C/2020 F5 (MASTER)	18h 03m 55s	-69° 03’ 46”	14.9	15.70		0.4'	Apus Aps
	C/2020 J1 (SONEAR)	17h 13m 47s	-50° 22’ 44”	15.1	15.61		0.4'	Ara Ara
	C/2020 F8 (SWAN)	06h 12m 54s	-01° 05’ 59”	-	15.19		-	Orion Ori
	29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1	02h 40m 34s	+27° 21’ 13”	-	15.30		-	Aries Ari
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	17h 12m 31s	+40° 16’ 57”	15.3	16.08		1.1'	Hercules Her
	C/2017 B3 (LINEAR)	23h 54m 45s	+01° 58’ 06”	15.6	17.74		0.9'	Pisces Psc
	Comet C/2020 S3	09h 27m 13s	-01° 21’ 44”	-	15.91		-	Hydra Hya
	C/2019 F1 (ATLAS-Africano)	14h 44m 30s	-33° 59’ 47”	-	16.06		-	Centaurus Cen
	17P/Holmes	18h 54m 01s	-29° 23’ 45”	-	16.27		-	Sagittarius Sgr
	C/2019 K7 (Smith)	18h 25m 05s	+19° 00’ 31”	-	16.46		-	Hercules Her

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	10h 07m 42s	+14° 20’ 25”	8.04		Leo
	8 Flora	02h 52m 49s	+03° 55’ 09”	8.14		Cetus
	1 Ceres	22h 22m 12s	-24° 36’ 27”	8.55		Aquarius
	11 Parthenope	02h 07m 31s	+04° 24’ 39”	9.36		Cetus
	15 Eunomia	08h 22m 19s	+22° 47’ 39”	9.87		Cancer
	16 Psyche	05h 28m 37s	+19° 02’ 28”	10.31		Taurus
	19 Fortuna	22h 53m 26s	-05° 42’ 07”	10.47		Aquarius
	2 Pallas	19h 00m 13s	+04° 26’ 43”	10.47		Aquila
	7 Iris	18h 41m 05s	-19° 24’ 11”	10.54		Sagittarius
	20 Massalia	22h 00m 06s	-11° 35’ 15”	10.71		Aquarius

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
	Orionids	21 Oct	06h 17m	+16°	15	bright	1P/Halley
	Northern Taurids	12 Nov	03h 53m	+22°	5	bright	Comet Encke
	Southern Taurids	10 Oct	02h 06m	+09°	5	bright	Comet Encke
	Epsilon Geminids	18 Oct	06h 47m	+27°	3	medium	C/1964 N1 (Ikeya)
	Leonis Minorids	24 Oct	10h 48m	+37°	2	medium