Today's highlights

• It's tricky to predict, but newly discovered comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is a truly promising one for autumn next year. Here you can find detailed information, a 3d orbit visualization, interactive star maps and a real time position tracker to start following and observing it.
• Tonight observing guide from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
• The Sun is in the constellation of Pisces. The Moon is in the constellation of Aquarius and it is in New Moon phase.
• Comet ZTF (C/2020 V2) is in the constellation of Triangulum and its latest estimated magnitude is 11.97. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 8 inches (200mm) or more.
• Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is in the constellation of Eridanus and its latest estimated magnitude is 12.16. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 8 inches (200mm) or more.
• Comet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) is in the constellation of Horologium and its latest estimated magnitude is 12.48. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 8 inches (200mm) or more.
• The next close approach with a Near Earth Object (NEO) will happen with Asteroid (NEO) 2023 FV1 on Mar 21 2023 at 01:28 UTC (26 minutes), at an approach distance of 1,861,386 kilometers, or 4.84 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 13.78 kilometers per second.
• Dwarf Planet 1 Ceres is at opposition, current elongation 163.1°

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	23h 59m 23s	-00° 04’ 07”	1,926.7”	-26.75		Pisces
	Moon	23h 31m 40s	-07° 43’ 48”	1,967.7”	-5.12		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	02h 08m 54s	+13° 22’ 47”	13.2”	-3.98		Aries
	Mercury	00h 14m 03s	+00° 24’ 56”	5.1”	-1.81		Pisces
	Uranus	02h 54m 23s	+16° 18’ 15”	3.4”	5.85		Aries
	Jupiter	01h 01m 18s	+05° 22’ 03”	32.7”	-		Pisces
	Mars	05h 49m 08s	+25° 35’ 49”	6.9”	-		Taurus
	Neptune	23h 43m 27s	-03° 03’ 49”	2.2”	-		Pisces
	Saturn	22h 14m 56s	-12° 15’ 29”	15.0”	-		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 (219)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	5D/Brorsen (Lost)	01h 30m 26s	+22° 34’ 43”	-	4.85		-	Pisces Psc
	C/2020 V2 (ZTF)	02h 01m 38s	+35° 03’ 43”	-	11.97		-	Triangulum Tri
	C/2022 E3 (ZTF)	04h 45m 52s	-05° 40’ 10”	-	12.16		-	Eridanus Eri
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	03h 16m 07s	-45° 39’ 38”	-	12.48		-	Horologium Hor
	C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS)	23h 26m 18s	+46° 07’ 22”	-	13.02		-	Andromeda And
	81P/Wild 2	17h 27m 16s	-19° 03’ 01”	-	13.48		-	Ophiucus Oph
	C/2020 K1 (PANSTARRS)	19h 56m 12s	-41° 02’ 06”	-	13.54		-	Sagittarius Sgr
	364P/2018 A2 (PANSTARRS)	14h 59m 50s	+29° 15’ 43”	-	14.17		-	Bootes Boo
	C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)	15h 44m 44s	+10° 50’ 47”	-	14.36		-	Serpens Ser
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	09h 06m 49s	-34° 23’ 57”	-	14.64		-	Pyxis Pyx
	C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS)	05h 16m 28s	-31° 22’ 25”	-	14.76		-	Columba Col
	237P/LINEAR	18h 30m 04s	-22° 35’ 11”	-	14.93		-	Sagittarius Sgr
	96P/Machholz 1	20h 19m 33s	-07° 56’ 37”	-	15.32		-	Aquila Aql
	C/2021 Y1 (ATLAS)	03h 42m 46s	-18° 47’ 00”	-	15.38		-	Eridanus Eri
	C/2022 S3 (PANSTARRS)	06h 52m 54s	-10° 13’ 16”	-	15.45		-	Monoceros Mon
	77P/Longmore	14h 32m 50s	-23° 20’ 50”	-	15.73		-	Libra Lib
	C/2020 S4 (PANSTARRS)	09h 21m 11s	+29° 09’ 46”	-	15.86		-	Cancer Cnc
	71P/Clark	21h 47m 53s	-19° 35’ 57”	-	16.25		-	Capricornus Cap
	P/2010 H2 (Vales)	04h 01m 28s	+23° 23’ 00”	-	16.27		-	Taurus Tau
	126P/IRAS	22h 50m 14s	-36° 58’ 32”	-	16.28		-	Grus Gru

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
	1 Ceres	12h 28m 09s	+15° 25’ 00”	6.91		Coma
	2 Pallas	06h 51m 33s	-07° 45’ 15”	8.17		Monoceros
	4 Vesta	01h 14m 12s	+02° 20’ 50”	8.29		Cetus
	3 Juno	02h 22m 16s	+05° 12’ 35”	9.53		Cetus
	6 Hebe	08h 01m 02s	+20° 18’ 22”	10.01		Cancer
	7 Iris	14h 52m 47s	-22° 14’ 28”	10.44		Libra
	9 Metis	00h 05m 08s	-03° 23’ 40”	10.88		Pisces
	15 Eunomia	19h 00m 05s	-28° 27’ 22”	10.92		Sagittarius
	17 Thetis	13h 35m 35s	-00° 34’ 15”	10.98		Virgo
	18 Melpomene	21h 39m 48s	-10° 47’ 38”	11.12		Capricornus

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
	Gamma Normids	14 Mar	15h 54m	-50°	6	bright