Today's quick hilights

• The Sun is in the constellation of Scorpius. The Moon is in the constellation of Aries and it is in Waxing Gibbous phase.
• Comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) latest observed magnitude is 8.1 and it is in the constellation of Taurus. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 40-50mm aperture or a small telescope.
• Comet C/2020 S3 (Erasmus) latest estimated magnitude is 8.90 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 88P/Howell latest observed magnitude is 9.6 and it is in the constellation of Capricornus. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 80mm aperture or a small telescope.
• The next close approach with a Near Earth Object (NEO) will happen with Asteroid (NEO) 153201 on Nov 29 2020 at 05:08 UTC (16 hours 8 minutes), at an approach distance of 4,302,719 kilometers, or 11.19 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 25.07 kilometers per second.
• Asteroid 16 Psyche is at opposition, current elongation 167.6°

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	16h 18m 26s	-21° 23’ 23”	1,945.2”	-26.77		Scorpius
	Moon	02h 59m 46s	+13° 05’ 42”	1,769.6”	-12.10		Aries

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	14h 26m 11s	-12° 41’ 47”	11.8”	-3.91		Libra
	Jupiter	19h 49m 44s	-21° 30’ 50”	33.8”	-2.04		Sagittarius
	Mars	01h 00m 16s	+06° 15’ 36”	15.0”	-1.21		Pisces
	Mercury	15h 29m 49s	-18° 05’ 55”	5.0”	-0.73		Libra
	Saturn	20h 00m 15s	-20° 55’ 50”	15.2”	1.43		Sagittarius
	Uranus	02h 20m 26s	+13° 30’ 34”	3.7”	5.68		Aries
	Neptune	23h 17m 06s	-05° 48’ 07”	2.3”	7.88		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 (203)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	C/2020 M3 (ATLAS)	05h 25m 40s	+22° 36’ 45”	8.1	13.56		9.6'	Taurus Tau
	Comet C/2020 S3	14h 08m 33s	-22° 57’ 42”	-	8.90		-	Hydra Hya
	88P/Howell	20h 31m 25s	-22° 39’ 36”	9.6	15.14		4.3'	Capricornus Cap
	11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR	00h 45m 46s	+12° 04’ 19”	13.4	17.41		4.5'	Pisces Psc
	C/2019 N1 (ATLAS)	13h 54m 31s	-20° 08’ 40”	-	13.97		-	Virgo Vir
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	23h 54m 35s	+61° 28’ 11”	14.2	15.16		1.0'	Cassiopeia Cas
	C/2018 F4 (PANSTARRS)	01h 24m 03s	-31° 46’ 35”	14.7	17.73		0.8'	Sculptor Scl
	C/2018 N2 (ASASSN)	15h 50m 40s	+60° 12’ 34”	14.7	16.04		1.6'	Draco Dra
	C/2020 F5 (MASTER)	19h 35m 36s	-62° 20’ 00”	14.9	15.48		0.3'	Pavo Pav
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	17h 32m 13s	+36° 32’ 22”	15.0	15.87		1.3'	Hercules Her
	C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS)	16h 11m 36s	-21° 01’ 15”	-	15.43		-	Scorpius Sco
	C/2019 U6 (Lemmon)	18h 27m 12s	+24° 03’ 22”	15.5	18.84		1.4'	Hercules Her
	29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1	02h 21m 43s	+25° 48’ 48”	-	15.52		-	Aries Ari
	C/2020 J1 (SONEAR)	17h 25m 31s	-45° 05’ 54”	-	15.58		-	Scorpius Sco
	C/2020 F8 (SWAN)	05h 01m 05s	-10° 27’ 17”	-	15.71		-	Eridanus Eri
	C/2019 F1 (ATLAS-Africano)	15h 31m 20s	-40° 23’ 24”	-	15.92		-	Lupus Lup
	C/2020 N1 (PANSTARRS)	23h 25m 32s	+42° 07’ 06”	16.2	16.13		1.1'	Andromeda And
	17P/Holmes	20h 05m 17s	-22° 18’ 22”	16.3	16.24		0.9'	Sagittarius Sgr
	C/2020 P1 (NEOWISE)	14h 49m 45s	+07° 45’ 20”	16.4	16.46		0.7'	Bootes Boo
	C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)	08h 33m 07s	-37° 37’ 48”	-	16.60		-	Vela Vel

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	11h 02m 04s	+10° 49’ 32”	7.67		Leo
	8 Flora	02h 19m 29s	+03° 23’ 12”	8.55		Cetus
	1 Ceres	22h 36m 10s	-20° 39’ 10”	9.07		Aquarius
	15 Eunomia	08h 48m 21s	+19° 10’ 27”	9.39		Cancer
	16 Psyche	05h 09m 18s	+18° 10’ 13”	9.54		Taurus
	79 Eurynome	05h 31m 22s	+16° 38’ 38”	10.15		Taurus
	11 Parthenope	01h 39m 09s	+02° 45’ 01”	10.24		Pisces
	13 Egeria	06h 19m 32s	+40° 35’ 46”	10.34		Auriga
	7 Iris	19h 45m 54s	-17° 28’ 59”	10.57		Sagittarius
	18 Melpomene	09h 24m 01s	+07° 32’ 22”	10.62		Leo

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
	Leonids	17 Nov	10h 05m	+22°	15	bright	55P/Tempel–Tuttle
	Northern Taurids	12 Nov	03h 53m	+22°	5	bright	Comet Encke
	November Orionids	28 Nov	06h 05m	+16°	3	medium
	Phoenicids	2 Dec	01h 11m	-53°	variable	medium	289P/Blanpain