Today's quick hilights

• The Sun is in the constellation of Libra. The Moon is in the constellation of Virgo and it is in Waning Crescent (Approaching New Moon) phase.
• Comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) latest observed magnitude is 8.1 and it is in the constellation of Orion. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 40-50mm aperture or a small telescope.
• Comet 88P/Howell latest observed magnitude is 9.9 and it is in the constellation of Sagittarius. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 80mm aperture or a small telescope.
• Comet C/2020 S3 (Erasmus) latest estimated magnitude is 13.44 and it is in the constellation of Crater. 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 VC2 on Nov 14 2020 at 03:36 UTC (11 hours 22 minutes), at an approach distance of 3,048,514 kilometers, or 7.93 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 7.05 kilometers per second.
• Uranus is at opposition, current elongation 166.4°
• Asteroid 8 Flora is at opposition, current elongation 161.0°

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	15h 16m 08s	-18° 07’ 39”	1,939.3”	-26.77		Libra
	Moon	13h 53m 39s	-08° 23’ 42”	1,999.2”	-6.29		Virgo

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	13h 16m 32s	-06° 10’ 32”	12.4”	-3.94		Virgo
	Jupiter	19h 38m 23s	-21° 58’ 22”	35.0”	-2.10		Sagittarius
	Mars	00h 56m 28s	+05° 01’ 48”	17.7”	-1.72		Pisces
	Mercury	14h 05m 44s	-10° 21’ 57”	6.3”	-0.71		Virgo
	Saturn	19h 55m 16s	-21° 09’ 04”	15.5”	1.42		Sagittarius
	Uranus	02h 22m 36s	+13° 41’ 07”	3.7”	5.67		Aries
	Neptune	23h 17m 21s	-05° 46’ 57”	2.3”	7.86		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 M3 (ATLAS)	05h 26m 00s	+03° 30’ 09”	8.1	13.14		8.0'	Orion Ori
	88P/Howell	19h 37m 42s	-25° 26’ 20”	9.9	14.81		4.3'	Sagittarius Sgr
	Comet C/2020 S3	11h 54m 34s	-16° 00’ 55”	-	13.44		-	Crater Crt
	C/2019 N1 (ATLAS)	13h 39m 41s	-11° 53’ 04”	-	14.11		-	Virgo Vir
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	23h 56m 23s	+63° 20’ 33”	14.3	15.24		0.9'	Cassiopeia Cas
	11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR	00h 11m 32s	+17° 19’ 33”	14.4	17.27		1.9'	Pegasus Peg
	C/2019 U6 (Lemmon)	17h 58m 11s	+23° 26’ 59”	14.5	18.44		2.2'	Hercules Her
	C/2018 N2 (ASASSN)	15h 32m 56s	+61° 21’ 06”	14.6	15.98		0.7'	Draco Dra
	C/2020 F5 (MASTER)	19h 02m 39s	-64° 58’ 18”	14.7	15.47		1.7'	Pavo Pav
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	17h 23m 53s	+37° 42’ 55”	15.1	15.93		0.9'	Hercules Her
	C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS)	15h 52m 27s	-18° 13’ 49”	-	15.25		-	Libra Lib
	C/2020 P1 (NEOWISE)	14h 16m 02s	+09° 27’ 05”	-	15.39		-	Bootes Boo
	C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)	08h 31m 47s	-35° 57’ 58”	15.4	16.72		0.3'	Pyxis Pyx
	C/2020 F8 (SWAN)	05h 30m 10s	-07° 43’ 12”	-	15.46		-	Orion Ori
	C/2020 R4 (ATLAS)	22h 42m 55s	-22° 29’ 13”	-	15.48		-	Aquarius Aqr
	29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1	02h 28m 18s	+26° 30’ 24”	-	15.49		-	Aries Ari
	C/2017 B3 (LINEAR)	23h 45m 26s	+02° 23’ 14”	15.5	17.57		0.9'	Pisces Psc
	C/2020 J1 (SONEAR)	17h 19m 19s	-46° 44’ 55”	-	15.63		-	Ara Ara
	C/2019 F1 (ATLAS-Africano)	15h 12m 23s	-37° 52’ 05”	-	16.00		-	Lupus Lup
	C/2020 N1 (PANSTARRS)	23h 23m 24s	+45° 55’ 30”	17.0	16.20		0.6'	Andromeda And

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 43m 19s	+11° 57’ 56”	7.84		Leo
	8 Flora	02h 29m 50s	+02° 52’ 40”	8.15		Cetus
	1 Ceres	22h 27m 17s	-22° 25’ 57”	8.90		Aquarius
	15 Eunomia	08h 43m 23s	+20° 23’ 13”	9.61		Cancer
	11 Parthenope	01h 46m 25s	+02° 50’ 01”	9.85		Pisces
	16 Psyche	05h 20m 58s	+18° 29’ 24”	9.85		Taurus
	79 Eurynome	05h 41m 30s	+17° 40’ 25”	10.50		Taurus
	7 Iris	19h 19m 37s	-18° 28’ 15”	10.59		Sagittarius
	2 Pallas	19h 23m 21s	+01° 35’ 01”	10.61		Aquila
	13 Egeria	06h 27m 48s	+37° 59’ 57”	10.66		Auriga

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
	Leonids	17 Nov	10h 05m	+22°	15	bright	55P/Tempel–Tuttle
	Northern Taurids	12 Nov	03h 53m	+22°	5	bright	Comet Encke
	Southern Taurids	10 Oct	02h 06m	+09°	5	bright	Comet Encke
	November Orionids	28 Nov	06h 05m	+16°	3	medium