Welcome to your guide to the Solar System
- 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 year 2035 using our Online Planetarium.
- Discover our 3D Solar System Simulator
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
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!
View larger 3D Solar System Simulator
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 | |||
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Sun | 20h 22m 51s | -19° 23’ 23” | 1,949.4” | -26.78 | Capricornus |
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Moon | 19h 52m 03s | -22° 32’ 39” | 1,823.0” | -4.80 |
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Sagittarius |
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= current altitude ≥ 30°
= current altitude < 30°
= below the horizonLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
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 | ||
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Venus | 22h 56m 52s | -08° 04’ 20” | 14.6” | -4.06 | Aquarius |
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Jupiter | 18h 50m 47s | -22° 52’ 11” | 31.5” | -1.86 | Sagittarius |
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Mercury | 21h 02m 01s | -18° 55’ 22” | 5.1” | -1.10 |
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Capricornus |
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Saturn | 19h 42m 57s | -21° 18’ 18” | 14.6” | 1.37 |
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Sagittarius |
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Mars | 16h 49m 54s | -22° 21’ 06” | 4.7” | 1.43 |
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Ophiucus |
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Uranus | 02h 01m 41s | +11° 52’ 10” | 3.5” | 5.79 | Aries |
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Neptune | 23h 12m 08s | -06° 14’ 25” | 2.2” | 7.94 | Aquarius |
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= current altitude ≥ 30°
= current altitude < 30°
= below the horizonLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
Current Planets Apparent Size Comparison
5.1”
14.6”
4.7”
31.5”
14.6”
3.5”
2.2”
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 (175)
| Comet | R.A. | Decl. | Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs | Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred | Coma DiameterComa Diam | ConstellationConst | Map | ||
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C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) | 02h 27m 23s | +57° 27’ 51” | 9.5 | 11.96 | 3.9' | Perseus Per |
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C/2020 A2 (Iwamoto) | 18h 07m 36s | +18° 52’ 55” | 12.5 | 15.25 |
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3.0' | Hercules Her |
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C/2018 N2 (ASASSN) | 23h 33m 17s | +41° 26’ 12” | 12.6 | 14.48 |
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0.9' | Andromeda And |
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C/2019 Y1 (ATLAS) | 23h 41m 38s | -11° 43’ 20” | - | 14.56 |
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- | Aquarius Aqr |
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260P/McNaught | 03h 22m 02s | +40° 53’ 10” | 15.0 | - | 3.3' |
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C/2018 F4 (PANSTARRS) | 00h 23m 53s | -73° 11’ 25” | - | 15.91 |
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- | Tucana Tuc |
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C/2019 N1 (ATLAS) | 18h 13m 42s | +61° 07’ 29” | - | 16.23 |
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- | Draco Dra |
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C/2018 A6 (Gibbs) | 22h 36m 50s | -51° 43’ 33” | - | 16.29 |
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- | Grus Gru |
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C/2019 K1 (ATLAS) | 21h 17m 41s | -74° 17’ 57” | - | 16.40 |
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- | Pavo Pav |
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289P/Blanpain | 07h 38m 44s | +65° 25’ 50” | - | 16.50 |
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- | Camelopardalis Cam |
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C/2017 B3 (LINEAR) | 23h 17m 39s | -20° 35’ 15” | - | 16.75 |
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- | Aquarius Aqr |
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C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) | 12h 36m 43s | -51° 01’ 43” | - | 16.82 |
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- | Centaurus Cen |
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C/2019 K7 (Smith) | 20h 27m 45s | -13° 47’ 14” | - | 16.87 |
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- | Capricornus Cap |
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C/2019 F1 (ATLAS-Africano) | 14h 58m 08s | -13° 37’ 55” | - | 17.02 |
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- | Libra Lib |
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C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) | 18h 01m 30s | +45° 41’ 47” | - | 17.04 |
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- | Hercules Her |
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C/2017 M4 (ATLAS) | 14h 27m 18s | -67° 29’ 42” | - | 17.05 | - | Circinus Cir |
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C/2016 M1 (PANSTARRS) | 05h 44m 18s | -29° 19’ 58” | - | 17.07 |
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- | Columba Col |
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78P/Gehrels 2 | 09h 21m 59s | +06° 06’ 10” | - | 17.12 |
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- | Hydra Hya |
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C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) | 22h 31m 58s | +40° 23’ 29” | - | 17.67 | - | Lacerta Lac |
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C/2015 O1 (PANSTARRS) | 08h 24m 20s | +23° 56’ 09” | - | 17.98 | - | Cancer Cnc |
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= current altitude ≥ 30°
= current altitude < 30°
= below the horizonLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
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 (76)
| Asteroid | R.A. | Decl. | MagnitudeMag | ConstellationConst | Map | ||
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1 Ceres | 19h 59m 39s | -25° 12’ 46” | 8.92 |
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Sagittarius |
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3122 Florence (1981 ET3) | 21h 59m 40s | -07° 55’ 12” | 16.60 | Aquarius |
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2015 BN509 | 08h 22m 39s | +20° 43’ 17” | 18.01 |
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Cancer |
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6478 Gault | 19h 02m 04s | -07° 14’ 43” | 18.65 |
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Aquila |
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1999 WK4 | 18h 58m 39s | -14° 12’ 13” | 19.03 |
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Scutum |
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A/2017 U7 | 20h 00m 36s | -32° 27’ 57” | 19.30 |
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Sagittarius |
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3200 Phaethon | 00h 47m 54s | +21° 13’ 15” | 19.42 |
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Pisces |
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249516 Aretha | 08h 45m 35s | +24° 42’ 29” | 19.97 |
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Cancer |
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1979 XB | 17h 54m 58s | -13° 20’ 06” | 20.55 |
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Serpens |
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2007 FT3 | 06h 13m 25s | +82° 52’ 00” | 21.73 | Camelopardalis |
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= current altitude ≥ 30°
= current altitude < 30°
= below the horizonLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
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 | |
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Dec. Leonis Minorids | 20 Dec | 10h 41m | +30° | 5 | medium |
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Gamma Ursae Minorids | 20 Jan | 15h 11m | +67° | 3 | medium |
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= current altitude ≥ 30°
= current altitude < 30°
= below the horizonLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]