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Today's highlights

• NEW! Check out the Mars Perseverance Rover Photostream!
• The Sun is in the constellation of Aries. The Moon is in the constellation of Aquarius and it is in Waning Crescent phase.
• Comet C/2020 R4 (ATLAS) latest observed magnitude is 9.4 and it is in the constellation of Canes Venatici. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 60-70mm aperture or a small telescope.
• Comet C/2020 T2 (Palomar) latest observed magnitude is 11.0 and it is in the constellation of Canes Venatici. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 6 inches (150mm) or more.
• Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke latest observed magnitude is 13.0 and it is in the constellation of Aquila. 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) 2021 GK1 on May 11 2021 at 17:23 UTC (5 days 6 hours 49 minutes), at an approach distance of 567,429 kilometers, or 1.48 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 2.01 kilometers per second.

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	02h 53m 27s	+16° 34’ 29”	1,901.9”	-26.72		Aries
	Moon	23h 17m 44s	-10° 49’ 20”	1,810.1”	-8.65		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	03h 36m 43s	+19° 13’ 54”	9.9”	-3.88		Taurus
	Jupiter	22h 04m 51s	-12° 36’ 35”	37.2”	-2.25		Aquarius
	Mercury	04h 05m 11s	+23° 01’ 08”	6.3”	-0.70		Taurus
	Saturn	21h 02m 31s	-17° 28’ 56”	16.3”	1.34		Capricornus
	Mars	06h 33m 21s	+24° 39’ 04”	4.5”	1.59		Gemini
	Uranus	02h 33m 41s	+14° 39’ 10”	3.4”	5.88		Aries
	Neptune	23h 33m 13s	-04° 04’ 46”	2.2”	7.93		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 (196)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	C/2020 R4 (ATLAS)	12h 43m 54s	+31° 27’ 42”	9.4	13.93		7.7'	Canes Venatici CVn
	C/2020 T2 (Palomar)	13h 42m 41s	+31° 16’ 24”	11.0	13.88		4.5'	Canes Venatici CVn
	7P/Pons-Winnecke	19h 51m 42s	+02° 08’ 58”	13.0	14.67		3.6'	Aquila Aql
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	03h 26m 54s	+50° 40’ 12”	13.1	14.53		1.6'	Perseus Per
	C/2021 D1 (SWAN)	05h 14m 23s	+33° 32’ 05”	13.3	16.43		2.6'	Auriga Aur
	15P/Finlay	22h 39m 03s	-16° 04’ 33”	-	13.53		-	Aquarius Aqr
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	18h 18m 35s	+42° 24’ 48”	13.8	14.79		1.9'	Lyra Lyr
	C/2020 J1 (SONEAR)	15h 53m 04s	-32° 39’ 37”	-	14.16		-	Lupus Lup
	C/2019 N1 (ATLAS)	04h 26m 53s	-56° 47’ 31”	14.3	14.98		0.9'	Dorado Dor
	C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)	08h 13m 51s	-28° 24’ 40”	14.5	15.53		0.3'	Puppis Pup
	246P/NEAT	19h 27m 05s	-26° 25’ 50”	-	14.67		-	Sagittarius Sgr
	C/2019 F1 (ATLAS-Africano)	20h 36m 49s	-75° 07’ 13”	-	14.70		-	Octans Oct
	75D/Kohoutek (Lost)	06h 08m 06s	+21° 27’ 55”	-	15.10		-	Orion Ori
	C/2020 F5 (MASTER)	23h 25m 31s	-37° 02’ 49”	-	15.49		-	Grus Gru
	C/2020 S8 (Lemmon)	13h 16m 06s	+08° 28’ 05”	15.5	17.00		1.0'	Virgo Vir
	297P/Beshore	18h 53m 11s	-18° 57’ 56”	-	15.78		-	Sagittarius Sgr
	156P/Russell-LINEAR	07h 14m 34s	+37° 29’ 30”	15.8	20.69		0.9'	Auriga Aur
	297P/Beshore (2008 J2)	18h 53m 12s	-18° 57’ 56”	-	15.80		-	Sagittarius Sgr
	4P/Faye	23h 45m 57s	+02° 38’ 22”	-	16.04		-	Pisces Psc
	C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS)	17h 27m 00s	-43° 37’ 18”	-	16.04		-	Scorpius Sco

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	10h 50m 52s	+17° 25’ 17”	6.88		Leo
	1 Ceres	01h 57m 12s	+04° 48’ 13”	9.13		Pisces
	7 Iris	01h 17m 19s	+11° 58’ 33”	9.95		Pisces
	6 Hebe	19h 55m 19s	-07° 50’ 36”	10.19		Aquila
	9 Metis	12h 39m 43s	+02° 27’ 07”	10.22		Virgo
	3 Juno	17h 29m 51s	-05° 54’ 31”	10.46		Ophiucus
	2 Pallas	22h 54m 06s	+06° 31’ 58”	10.55		Pisces
	15 Eunomia	08h 17m 39s	+13° 20’ 32”	10.56		Cancer
	12 Victoria	20h 09m 38s	-13° 18’ 15”	10.56		Capricornus
	29 Amphitrite	10h 03m 35s	+12° 40’ 12”	10.69		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
	Eta Aquariids	6 May	22h 30m	-01°	50	bright	1P/Halley
	Eta Lyrids	9 May	19h 06m	+44°	3	medium