Today's news and hilights

• Recently discovered Comet C/2021 A1 Leonard is promising to become very bright by the end of the year, so it's definitely worth following it!
• Check out our list of 2021 Astronomical events and plan for your observations!
• The Sun is in the constellation of Capricornus. The Moon is in the constellation of Taurus and it is in Waxing Gibbous phase.
• The Sun and Saturn are in conjunction with an apparent angular separation of 0° 44’ 55”, currently increasing. See in Planetarium.
• Comet 141P/Machholz 2 latest estimated magnitude is 10.60 and it is in the constellation of Pisces. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 6 inches (150mm) or more.
• Comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) latest observed magnitude is 11.2 and it is in the constellation of Auriga. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 6 inches (150mm) or more.
• Comet 156P/Russell-LINEAR latest observed magnitude is 11.3 and it is in the constellation of Triangulum. 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) 2021 AW5 on Jan 24 2021 at 19:42 UTC (now), at an approach distance of 3,238,320 kilometers, or 8.42 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 7.14 kilometers per second.
• Asteroid 10 Hygiea is at opposition, current elongation 174.6°
• Asteroid 14 Irene is at opposition, current elongation 170.1°
• Asteroid 15 Eunomia is at opposition, current elongation 175.0°
• Asteroid 18 Melpomene is at opposition, current elongation 167.7°

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	20h 28m 24s	-19° 04’ 24”	1,949.2”	-26.78		Capricornus
	Moon	05h 07m 49s	+22° 19’ 46”	1,800.4”	-11.44		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	19h 26m 40s	-22° 17’ 30”	10.2”	-3.86		Sagittarius
	Jupiter	20h 42m 30s	-18° 44’ 53”	31.8”	-1.95		Capricornus
	Mercury	21h 42m 19s	-13° 39’ 45”	7.1”	-0.59		Capricornus
	Mars	02h 22m 46s	+15° 28’ 50”	8.3”	0.31		Aries
	Saturn	20h 26m 15s	-19° 37’ 21”	14.6”	1.32		Capricornus
	Uranus	02h 17m 11s	+13° 15’ 48”	3.5”	5.77		Aries
	Neptune	23h 20m 21s	-05° 25’ 54”	2.2”	7.94		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 (210)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	141P/Machholz 2	00h 22m 25s	-01° 41’ 52”	-	10.60		-	Pisces Psc
	C/2020 M3 (ATLAS)	05h 26m 09s	+48° 38’ 16”	11.2	17.20		5.7'	Auriga Aur
	156P/Russell-LINEAR	02h 18m 52s	+34° 47’ 19”	11.3	16.28		4.0'	Triangulum Tri
	88P/Howell	23h 15m 30s	-07° 28’ 52”	11.5	16.55		2.5'	Aquarius Aqr
	P/2016 J3 (STEREO)	19h 32m 10s	-08° 56’ 44”	12.0	26.41		2.2'	Aquila Aql
	C/2019 N1 (ATLAS)	15h 00m 09s	-61° 28’ 42”	12.6	13.64		1.0'	Circinus Cir
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	00h 36m 13s	+54° 23’ 22”	13.4	14.88		1.3'	Cassiopeia Cas
	C/2021 A2	08h 45m 28s	-34° 19’ 53”	-	14.12		-	Pyxis Pyx
	C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)	08h 15m 59s	-40° 35’ 04”	14.4	16.06		0.7'	Puppis Pup
	C/2018 N2 (ASASSN)	16h 36m 06s	+61° 46’ 07”	14.7	16.28		0.8'	Draco Dra
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	18h 06m 48s	+35° 11’ 46”	14.9	15.59		0.7'	Hercules Her
	C/2020 S3 (Erasmus)	20h 46m 09s	-07° 06’ 49”	-	14.93		-	Aquarius Aqr
	C/2020 R4 (ATLAS)	21h 02m 10s	-16° 23’ 51”	-	15.04		-	Capricornus Cap
	C/2020 J1 (SONEAR)	17h 49m 27s	-41° 14’ 26”	-	15.23		-	Scorpius Sco
	C/2020 T2 (Palomar)	13h 38m 23s	+26° 55’ 56”	15.4	16.26		1.0'	Bootes Boo
	C/2020 F5 (MASTER)	21h 23m 36s	-51° 41’ 57”	-	15.48		-	Indus Ind
	C/2019 F1 (ATLAS-Africano)	16h 58m 10s	-51° 19’ 57”	-	15.49		-	Ara Ara
	29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1	02h 17m 36s	+23° 54’ 17”	-	15.83		-	Aries Ari
	C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS)	17h 16m 02s	-29° 31’ 56”	-	15.85		-	Ophiucus Oph
	C/2021 A7 (NEOWISE)	06h 08m 39s	-64° 39’ 51”	16.1	17.39		0.5'	Dorado Dor

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 (80)

	Asteroid	R.A.	Decl.	MagnitudeMag		ConstellationConst	Map
	4 Vesta	11h 39m 55s	+11° 03’ 46”	6.64		Leo
	15 Eunomia	08h 09m 31s	+16° 51’ 47”	8.44		Cancer
	1 Ceres	23h 35m 29s	-11° 57’ 24”	9.32		Aquarius
	14 Irene	08h 38m 40s	+28° 42’ 19”	9.34		Cancer
	18 Melpomene	09h 06m 01s	+10° 42’ 20”	9.61		Cancer
	29 Amphitrite	10h 50m 54s	+12° 19’ 23”	9.72		Leo
	8 Flora	02h 47m 48s	+11° 25’ 04”	9.92		Aries
	10 Hygiea	08h 45m 34s	+15° 36’ 12”	9.99		Cancer
	7 Iris	21h 38m 32s	-10° 11’ 14”	10.22		Capricornus
	16 Psyche	04h 34m 18s	+18° 15’ 06”	10.49		Taurus

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
	Dec. Leonis Minorids	20 Dec	10h 41m	+30°	5	medium
	Gamma Ursae Minorids	20 Jan	15h 11m	+67°	3	medium