Recent articles

Today's highlights

• NEW! Check out the Mars Perseverance Rover Photostream!
• The Sun is in the constellation of Virgo. The Moon is in the constellation of Aquarius and it is in Waxing Gibbous phase.
• Comet 8P/Tuttle latest observed magnitude is 9.4 and it is in the constellation of Hydra. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 60-70mm aperture or a small telescope.
• Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko latest observed magnitude is 10.5 and it is in the constellation of Gemini. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 6 inches (150mm) or more.
• Comet C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) latest observed magnitude is 10.7 and it is in the constellation of Lynx. 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 TH13 on Oct 17 2021 at 19:20 UTC (1 days 3 hours 36 minutes), at an approach distance of 633,541 kilometers, or 1.65 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 8.61 kilometers per second.

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 25m 51s	-09° 01’ 00”	1,925.1”	-26.75		Virgo
	Moon	22h 44m 44s	-14° 27’ 00”	1,852.7”	-11.48		Aquarius

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	16h 29m 48s	-24° 59’ 18”	21.7”	-4.37		Ophiucus
	Jupiter	21h 39m 07s	-15° 15’ 09”	43.3”	-2.59		Capricornus
	Saturn	20h 36m 49s	-19° 24’ 46”	16.6”	0.57		Capricornus
	Mercury	12h 38m 10s	-03° 39’ 57”	8.9”	1.28		Virgo
	Mars	13h 16m 16s	-07° 25’ 46”	3.6”	1.55		Virgo
	Uranus	02h 43m 44s	+15° 24’ 38”	3.7”	5.69		Aries
	Neptune	23h 27m 28s	-04° 46’ 46”	2.3”	7.70		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 (205)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	8P/Tuttle	11h 32m 16s	-32° 06’ 00”	9.4	16.82		3.1'	Hydra Hya
	67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko	06h 10m 13s	+24° 39’ 26”	10.5	12.15		3.4'	Gemini Gem
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	07h 41m 02s	+41° 48’ 58”	10.7	13.11		3.3'	Lynx Lyn
	C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS)	16h 34m 47s	-45° 21’ 14”	11.4	17.78		1.0'	Scorpius Sco
	C/2020 T2 (Palomar)	16h 50m 36s	-27° 15’ 40”	11.4	15.60		5.4'	Scorpius Sco
	4P/Faye	06h 29m 56s	+13° 58’ 33”	11.5	13.34		2.7'	Gemini Gem
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	17h 05m 18s	+23° 23’ 36”	12.5	14.06		1.6'	Hercules Her
	C/2021 A1 (Leonard)	11h 33m 28s	+36° 10’ 06”	12.9	14.26		2.3'	Ursa Major UMa
	19P/Borrelly	23h 10m 05s	-56° 31’ 47”	13.1	13.56		3.8'	Tucana Tuc
	7P/Pons-Winnecke	23h 15m 38s	-43° 13’ 24”	13.3	18.21		7.0'	Grus Gru
	C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)	10h 59m 14s	-25° 01’ 05”	13.8	15.02		0.5'	Crater Crt
	15P/Finlay	08h 35m 59s	+25° 56’ 52”	14.1	17.62		3.3'	Cancer Cnc
	C/2021 O1 (Nishimura)	13h 30m 28s	-02° 58’ 29”	-	14.35		-	Virgo Vir
	C/2020 F5 (MASTER)	22h 28m 32s	-27° 31’ 06”	14.6	15.53		0.9'	Pisces Austrinus PsA
	108P/Ciffreo	06h 44m 52s	+27° 21’ 44”	14.9	15.64		1.3'	Gemini Gem
	246P/NEAT	19h 17m 33s	-34° 14’ 20”	14.9	15.75		0.3'	Sagittarius Sgr
	C/2019 F1 (ATLAS-Africano)	21h 18m 44s	-76° 11’ 21”	14.9	15.14		0.5'	Octans Oct
	132P/Helin-Roman-Alu 2	00h 21m 31s	-02° 32’ 33”	-	14.91		-	Pisces Psc
	C/2021 E3 (ZTF)	18h 35m 20s	+10° 57’ 03”	16.2	15.38		0.7'	Ophiucus Oph
	C/2021 K1 (ATLAS)	01h 01m 06s	-14° 26’ 12”	15.5	17.84		0.3'	Cetus Cet

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	14h 47m 46s	-12° 01’ 46”	7.60		Libra
	1 Ceres	04h 43m 52s	+16° 11’ 27”	8.04		Taurus
	2 Pallas	22h 47m 44s	-07° 48’ 15”	9.22		Aquarius
	7 Iris	07h 32m 50s	+21° 40’ 41”	9.35		Gemini
	6 Hebe	19h 45m 53s	-22° 31’ 15”	9.81		Sagittarius
	12 Victoria	20h 40m 40s	-06° 29’ 15”	10.49		Aquarius
	324 Dembowska	21h 17m 05s	-24° 52’ 29”	10.54		Capricornus
	20 Massalia	08h 29m 10s	+18° 19’ 27”	10.71		Cancer
	15 Eunomia	11h 55m 45s	-08° 18’ 20”	11.03		Crater
	14 Irene	13h 53m 43s	-06° 09’ 07”	11.04		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
	Orionids	21 Oct	06h 17m	+16°	15	bright	1P/Halley
	Southern Taurids	10 Oct	02h 06m	+09°	5	bright	Comet Encke
	Epsilon Geminids	18 Oct	06h 47m	+27°	3	medium	C/1964 N1 (Ikeya)
	Delta Aurigids	11 Oct	05h 35m	+44°	2	medium