Today's highlights

• Check out the Mars Perseverance Rover Photostream!
• The Sun is in the constellation of Virgo. The Moon is in the constellation of Virgo and it is in Waxing Crescent phase.
• Comet 255P/Levy is in the constellation of Sextans and its latest estimated magnitude is 11.16. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 6 inches (150mm) or more.
• Comet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) is in the constellation of Lupus and its latest estimated magnitude is 11.43. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 6 inches (150mm) or more.
• Comet ZTF (C/2020 V2) is in the constellation of Ursa Major and its latest estimated magnitude is 12.58. 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) 2022 SA12 on Sep 29 2022 at 05:59 UTC (7 hours 8 minutes), at an approach distance of 1,401,017 kilometers, or 3.64 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 10.64 kilometers per second.
• Jupiter is at opposition, current elongation 177.1°
• Neptune is at opposition, current elongation 167.8°

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	12h 20m 07s	-02° 10’ 45”	1,915.1”	-26.74		Virgo
	Moon	14h 40m 21s	-16° 18’ 33”	1,898.3”	-7.41		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	11h 59m 24s	+01° 37’ 01”	9.8”	-3.92		Virgo
	Jupiter	00h 13m 54s	-00° 15’ 38”	48.8”	-2.94		Pisces
	Mars	05h 12m 34s	+22° 16’ 58”	11.7”	-0.56		Taurus
	Saturn	21h 26m 25s	-16° 27’ 18”	17.6”	0.53		Capricornus
	Mercury	11h 39m 35s	+01° 04’ 14”	9.4”	2.29		Virgo
	Uranus	03h 02m 59s	+16° 51’ 41”	3.7”	5.70		Aries
	Neptune	23h 37m 37s	-03° 45’ 12”	2.3”	7.69		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 (218)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	255P/Levy	10h 44m 34s	+03° 08’ 26”	-	11.16		-	Sextans Sex
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	15h 57m 08s	-32° 08’ 51”	-	11.43		-	Lupus Lup
	C/2020 V2 (ZTF)	10h 43m 52s	+54° 13’ 14”	-	12.58		-	Ursa Major UMa
	51P/Harrington	22h 36m 13s	-21° 43’ 39”	-	12.65		-	Aquarius Aqr
	C/2022 E3 (ZTF)	15h 57m 35s	+28° 13’ 18”	-	13.22		-	Corona Borealis CrB
	5D/Brorsen (Lost)	22h 05m 21s	-38° 04’ 03”	-	13.42		-	Grus Gru
	C/2022 P1 (NEOWISE)	23h 45m 48s	-32° 08’ 05”	-	13.56		-	Sculptor Scl
	C/2021 P4 (ATLAS)	12h 16m 40s	-31° 10’ 21”	-	13.86		-	Hydra Hya
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	09h 30m 27s	-11° 00’ 24”	-	14.11		-	Hydra Hya
	81P/Wild 2	10h 16m 10s	+10° 39’ 06”	-	14.27		-	Leo Leo
	C/2020 K1 (PANSTARRS)	17h 16m 24s	-07° 31’ 59”	-	14.50		-	Ophiucus Oph
	C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)	13h 27m 59s	-03° 01’ 34”	-	14.52		-	Virgo Vir
	C/2021 E3 (ZTF)	10h 12m 30s	-39° 15’ 02”	-	15.08		-	Antlia Ant
	117P/Helin-Roman-Alu 1	18h 44m 12s	-31° 15’ 16”	-	15.18		-	Sagittarius Sgr
	C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS)	06h 22m 00s	-48° 29’ 53”	-	15.46		-	Puppis Pup
	118P/Shoemaker-Levy 4	06h 52m 00s	+12° 25’ 13”	-	15.78		-	Gemini Gem
	22P/Kopff	01h 20m 47s	+00° 13’ 45”	-	16.03		-	Cetus Cet
	C/2020 S4 (PANSTARRS)	08h 25m 05s	+16° 43’ 25”	-	16.07		-	Cancer Cnc
	29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1	06h 53m 32s	+28° 56’ 35”	-	16.12		-	Gemini Gem
	C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS)	11h 50m 19s	+17° 07’ 39”	-	16.13		-	Leo Leo

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	21h 53m 46s	-22° 38’ 16”	6.83		Capricornus
	3 Juno	22h 46m 06s	-08° 15’ 37”	8.21		Aquarius
	1 Ceres	10h 16m 28s	+18° 00’ 51”	8.75		Leo
	2 Pallas	06h 32m 15s	-13° 58’ 49”	8.81		Canis Majoris
	324 Bamberga	03h 50m 06s	+37° 50’ 23”	9.85		Perseus
	6 Hebe	07h 54m 53s	+10° 53’ 13”	10.28		Canis Minoris
	324 Dembowska	04h 54m 05s	+26° 33’ 38”	10.55		Taurus
	7 Iris	12h 00m 28s	-04° 21’ 55”	10.83		Virgo
	9 Metis	19h 36m 13s	-27° 53’ 33”	10.98		Sagittarius
	192 Nausikaa	19h 50m 03s	-24° 16’ 09”	11.00		Sagittarius

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
	Southern Taurids	10 Oct	02h 06m	+09°	5	bright	Comet Encke
	Daytime Sextantids	27 Sep	10h 05m	+00°	5	bright