Today's quick hilights

• The Sun is in the constellation of Virgo. The Moon is in the constellation of Pisces and it is in Full Moon phase.
• Comet 88P/Howell latest observed magnitude is 9.1 and it is in the constellation of Scorpius. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 60-70mm aperture or a small telescope.
• Comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) latest observed magnitude is 10.2 and it is in the constellation of Eridanus. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 80mm aperture or a small telescope.
• Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) latest observed magnitude is 10.6 and it is in the constellation of Libra. 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) 2010 UC on Oct 4 2020 at 08:22 UTC (2 days 13 hours 44 minutes), at an approach distance of 5,574,182 kilometers, or 14.50 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 3.21 kilometers per second.
• The Moon is at opposition, current elongation 175.0°
• Mars is at opposition, current elongation 163.8°

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.

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	12h 32m 09s	-03° 28’ 23”	1,917.1”	-26.74		Virgo
	Moon	00h 37m 44s	-02° 07’ 53”	1,769.3”	-12.44		Pisces

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	10h 02m 50s	+12° 17’ 56”	15.5”	-4.09		Leo
	Mars	01h 36m 21s	+06° 04’ 56”	22.4”	-2.50		Pisces
	Jupiter	19h 16m 52s	-22° 41’ 50”	39.5”	-2.35		Sagittarius
	Mercury	14h 04m 39s	-15° 41’ 00”	6.8”	-0.02		Virgo
	Saturn	19h 48m 14s	-21° 25’ 42”	16.6”	1.29		Sagittarius
	Uranus	02h 29m 11s	+14° 13’ 17”	3.7”	5.68		Aries
	Neptune	23h 20m 16s	-05° 29’ 19”	2.3”	7.82		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 (197)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	88P/Howell	16h 49m 34s	-26° 06’ 19”	9.1	14.61		3.9'	Scorpius Sco
	C/2020 M3 (ATLAS)	04h 23m 44s	-32° 00’ 07”	10.2	14.44		4.6'	Eridanus Eri
	C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)	15h 05m 35s	-12° 26’ 04”	10.6	17.92		3.0'	Libra Lib
	C/2020 P1 (NEOWISE)	12h 31m 54s	-40° 56’ 38”	11.5	11.32		2.2'	Centaurus Cen
	C/2020 Q1 (Borisov)	21h 26m 50s	+58° 02’ 49”	13.1	16.24		3.9'	Cepheus Cep
	C/2019 U6 (Lemmon)	16h 27m 06s	+23° 01’ 36”	13.2	17.03		2.4'	Hercules Her
	C/2019 N1 (ATLAS)	12h 59m 01s	+09° 23’ 40”	-	14.50		-	Virgo Vir
	C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS)	14h 55m 07s	-07° 39’ 17”	15.6	14.58		0.3'	Libra Lib
	C/2018 N2 (ASASSN)	14h 30m 53s	+68° 16’ 13”	14.7	15.77		0.8'	Ursa Minor UMi
	C/2020 F8 (SWAN)	06h 33m 47s	+04° 22’ 02”	-	15.06		-	Monoceros Mon
	29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1	02h 48m 09s	+27° 34’ 25”	-	15.35		-	Aries Ari
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	00h 28m 17s	+65° 50’ 40”	15.5	15.67		1.1'	Cassiopeia Cas
	C/2017 B3 (LINEAR)	00h 04m 45s	+01° 49’ 08”	15.6	17.59		0.9'	Pisces Psc
	C/2020 J1 (SONEAR)	17h 17m 04s	-53° 56’ 21”	-	15.60		-	Ara Ara
	C/2020 F5 (MASTER)	17h 17m 50s	-71° 49’ 54”	-	15.67		-	Apus Aps
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	17h 06m 51s	+42° 33’ 51”	15.7	16.13		0.6'	Hercules Her
	58P/Jackson-Neujmin	07h 07m 20s	+08° 33’ 40”	16.1	17.90		0.8'	Monoceros Mon
	C/2019 F1 (ATLAS-Africano)	14h 26m 55s	-31° 23’ 44”	-	16.10		-	Centaurus Cen
	17P/Holmes	18h 26m 56s	-32° 21’ 39”	-	16.29		-	Sagittarius Sgr
	C/2019 K7 (Smith)	18h 26m 59s	+19° 24’ 01”	-	16.31		-	Hercules Her

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	09h 38m 32s	+16° 15’ 11”	8.13		Leo
	1 Ceres	22h 27m 30s	-25° 18’ 47”	8.23		Pisces Austrinus
	8 Flora	03h 02m 19s	+05° 21’ 56”	8.59		Cetus
	11 Parthenope	02h 22m 22s	+06° 07’ 08”	9.75		Cetus
	15 Eunomia	07h 58m 27s	+24° 40’ 22”	10.00		Gemini
	19 Fortuna	22h 59m 39s	-04° 38’ 36”	10.01		Aquarius
	2 Pallas	18h 47m 50s	+07° 19’ 51”	10.33		Aquila
	20 Massalia	22h 03m 07s	-11° 10’ 58”	10.39		Aquarius
	7 Iris	18h 18m 04s	-19° 40’ 02”	10.44		Sagittarius
	16 Psyche	05h 23m 12s	+19° 21’ 49”	10.60		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
	Orionids	21 Oct	06h 17m	+16°	15	bright	1P/Halley
	Southern Taurids	10 Oct	02h 06m	+09°	5	bright	Comet Encke
	Daytime Sextantids	27 Sep	10h 05m	+00°	5	bright