Today's highlights

• Check out the Mars Perseverance Rover Photostream!
• The Sun is in the constellation of Capricornus. The Moon is in the constellation of Virgo and it is in Waning Gibbous phase.
• Comet Leonard (C/2021 A1) is in the constellation of Pisces Austrinus and its latest observed magnitude is 6.9. It should be visible with the help of a small binocular.
• Comet C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) is in the constellation of Gemini and its latest observed magnitude is 8.9. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 60-70mm aperture or a small telescope.
• Comet 19P/Borrelly is in the constellation of Cetus and its latest observed magnitude is 9.0. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 60-70mm aperture or a small telescope.
• The next close approach with a Near Earth Object (NEO) will happen with Asteroid (NEO) 2022 BB on Jan 26 2022 at 18:53 UTC (3 days 15 hours 11 minutes), at an approach distance of 856,456 kilometers, or 2.23 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 7.03 kilometers per second.
• Asteroid 7 Iris is at opposition, current elongation 166.7°
• Asteroid 20 Massalia is at opposition, current elongation 163.4°

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	20h 20m 18s	-19° 32’ 00”	1,949.6”	-26.78		Capricornus
	Moon	12h 17m 09s	+02° 02’ 29”	1,863.7”	-11.14		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	18h 47m 56s	-16° 13’ 46”	56.3”	-4.63		Sagittarius
	Jupiter	22h 28m 25s	-10° 37’ 13”	33.3”	-2.07		Aquarius
	Saturn	21h 07m 23s	-17° 23’ 22”	14.8”	0.76		Capricornus
	Mars	17h 54m 18s	-23° 48’ 55”	4.2”	1.50		Sagittarius
	Mercury	20h 19m 51s	-16° 13’ 03”	10.1”	5.27		Capricornus
	Uranus	02h 32m 55s	+14° 36’ 03”	3.6”	5.78		Aries
	Neptune	23h 28m 12s	-04° 39’ 09”	2.2”	7.81		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 (209)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	C/2021 A1 (Leonard)	21h 38m 48s	-36° 18’ 23”	6.9	12.86		4.3'	Pisces Austrinus PsA
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	06h 50m 57s	+28° 35’ 23”	8.9	12.24		5.6'	Gemini Gem
	19P/Borrelly	01h 04m 56s	-02° 09’ 05”	9.0	12.15		5.2'	Cetus Cet
	67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko	08h 38m 42s	+29° 08’ 56”	9.4	13.31		6.4'	Cancer Cnc
	4P/Faye	06h 21m 32s	+09° 10’ 50”	11.9	14.40		2.9'	Monoceros Mon
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	18h 15m 21s	+12° 00’ 45”	12.0	13.64		2.0'	Ophiucus Oph
	C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)	12h 07m 29s	-29° 38’ 53”	13.0	14.06		1.7'	Hydra Hya
	C/2020 J1 (SONEAR)	14h 26m 39s	+08° 25’ 01”	14.4	16.31		0.9'	Bootes Boo
	C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS)	12h 20m 41s	-61° 18’ 04”	-	14.42		-	Crux Cru
	C/2021 E3 (ZTF)	19h 36m 50s	-10° 54’ 59”	-	14.64		-	Aquila Aql
	108P/Ciffreo	06h 43m 47s	+40° 47’ 53”	14.7	17.73		1.1'	Auriga Aur
	C/2020 V2 (ZTF)	13h 03m 45s	+46° 21’ 32”	14.9	15.21		0.7'	Canes Venatici CVn
	22P/Kopff	17h 59m 56s	-20° 56’ 10”	-	15.54		-	Sagittarius Sgr
	116P/Wild 4	10h 04m 19s	+17° 18’ 19”	-	15.56		-	Leo Leo
	29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1	04h 16m 06s	+30° 12’ 49”	-	15.72		-	Taurus Tau
	104P/Kowal 2	01h 39m 05s	+01° 16’ 46”	-	15.75		-	Cetus Cet
	C/2020 K1 (PANSTARRS)	18h 31m 47s	+17° 39’ 06”	15.8	16.43		0.8'	Hercules Her
	110P/Hartley 3	08h 14m 19s	+14° 40’ 55”	-	15.90		-	Cancer Cnc
	9P/Tempel 1	16h 43m 43s	-18° 39’ 54”	-	15.91		-	Ophiucus Oph
	117P/Helin-Roman-Alu 1	17h 16m 55s	-24° 13’ 27”	-	15.92		-	Ophiucus Oph

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	18h 25m 55s	-21° 33’ 45”	7.62		Sagittarius
	7 Iris	07h 26m 40s	+15° 43’ 07”	7.98		Gemini
	1 Ceres	03h 43m 11s	+18° 58’ 20”	8.21		Taurus
	20 Massalia	09h 25m 28s	+13° 49’ 02”	8.86		Leo
	2 Pallas	23h 45m 36s	-10° 50’ 05”	10.05		Aquarius
	6 Hebe	22h 59m 31s	-14° 12’ 13”	10.18		Aquarius
	11 Parthenope	09h 55m 19s	+14° 14’ 49”	10.47		Leo
	15 Eunomia	13h 37m 53s	-23° 24’ 06”	10.84		Hydra
	3 Juno	19h 44m 55s	-12° 57’ 04”	10.88		Sagittarius
	10 Hygiea	14h 16m 03s	-17° 48’ 39”	10.99		Virgo

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