Today's news and hilights

• Recently discovered Comet C/2021 A1 Leonard is promising to become very bright by the end of the year, so it's definitely worth following it!
• Check out our list of 2021 Astronomical events and plan for your observations!
• The Sun is in the constellation of Capricornus. The Moon is in the constellation of Gemini and it is in Waxing Gibbous phase.
• The Sun and Jupiter are in conjunction with an apparent angular separation of 1° 46’ 57”, currently decreasing. See in Planetarium.
• Comet P/2016 J3 (STEREO) latest observed magnitude is 10.4 and it is in the constellation of Aquila. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 80mm aperture or a small telescope.
• Comet 141P/Machholz 2 latest estimated magnitude is 10.80 and it is in the constellation of Cetus. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 6 inches (150mm) or more.
• Comet 88P/Howell latest observed magnitude is 11.1 and it is in the constellation of Aquarius. 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) 2021 BZ on Jan 28 2021 at 04:12 UTC (1 days 7 hours 4 minutes), at an approach distance of 2,149,362 kilometers, or 5.59 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 13.75 kilometers per second.
• Asteroid 10 Hygiea is at opposition, current elongation 176.7°
• Asteroid 14 Irene is at opposition, current elongation 169.6°
• Asteroid 15 Eunomia is at opposition, current elongation 172.7°
• Asteroid 18 Melpomene is at opposition, current elongation 170.0°

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	20h 36m 58s	-18° 33’ 31”	1,948.8”	-26.78		Capricornus
	Moon	07h 00m 47s	+24° 27’ 07”	1,839.2”	-12.11		Gemini

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	19h 37m 44s	-21° 58’ 13”	10.2”	-3.86		Sagittarius
	Jupiter	20h 44m 29s	-18° 37’ 24”	31.8”	-1.95		Capricornus
	Mercury	21h 47m 57s	-12° 36’ 43”	7.6”	-0.35		Capricornus
	Mars	02h 26m 57s	+15° 50’ 38”	8.2”	0.35		Aries
	Saturn	20h 27m 16s	-19° 34’ 00”	14.6”	1.33		Capricornus
	Uranus	02h 17m 16s	+13° 16’ 16”	3.5”	5.78		Aries
	Neptune	23h 20m 35s	-05° 24’ 26”	2.2”	7.94		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 (210)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	P/2016 J3 (STEREO)	19h 33m 15s	-08° 52’ 47”	10.4	26.40		3.5'	Aquila Aql
	141P/Machholz 2	00h 36m 02s	-01° 11’ 24”	-	10.80		-	Cetus Cet
	88P/Howell	23h 20m 22s	-06° 55’ 19”	11.1	16.61		3.1'	Aquarius Aqr
	156P/Russell-LINEAR	02h 25m 06s	+35° 19’ 09”	11.4	16.38		3.6'	Triangulum Tri
	C/2020 M3 (ATLAS)	05h 28m 11s	+48° 41’ 43”	11.4	17.32		5.0'	Auriga Aur
	C/2019 N1 (ATLAS)	15h 03m 10s	-63° 14’ 29”	12.6	13.64		1.3'	Circinus Cir
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	00h 38m 47s	+54° 12’ 09”	13.3	14.88		1.3'	Cassiopeia Cas
	C/2021 A2	08h 27m 56s	-30° 13’ 25”	-	14.01		-	Pyxis Pyx
	C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)	08h 14m 59s	-40° 31’ 54”	14.3	16.05		0.8'	Puppis Pup
	C/2018 N2 (ASASSN)	16h 36m 44s	+61° 58’ 29”	14.6	16.29		0.7'	Draco Dra
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	18h 07m 57s	+35° 14’ 41”	14.8	15.58		0.9'	Hercules Her
	C/2020 R4 (ATLAS)	21h 01m 03s	-16° 09’ 56”	-	14.94		-	Capricornus Cap
	C/2020 S3 (Erasmus)	20h 53m 24s	-06° 27’ 56”	-	15.17		-	Aquarius Aqr
	C/2020 J1 (SONEAR)	17h 49m 55s	-41° 09’ 17”	-	15.21		-	Scorpius Sco
	C/2019 F1 (ATLAS-Africano)	17h 01m 42s	-51° 45’ 48”	-	15.47		-	Ara Ara
	C/2020 F5 (MASTER)	21h 26m 57s	-51° 19’ 21”	-	15.48		-	Indus Ind
	C/2020 T2 (Palomar)	13h 40m 31s	+27° 07’ 03”	15.5	16.20		1.1'	Bootes Boo
	29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1	02h 18m 10s	+23° 53’ 20”	-	15.84		-	Aries Ari
	C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS)	17h 17m 55s	-29° 48’ 17”	-	15.86		-	Ophiucus Oph
	C/2021 A7 (NEOWISE)	06h 06m 20s	-64° 07’ 07”	16.1	17.35		0.5'	Dorado Dor

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 (80)

	Asteroid	R.A.	Decl.	MagnitudeMag		ConstellationConst	Map
	4 Vesta	11h 39m 47s	+11° 15’ 26”	6.59		Leo
	15 Eunomia	08h 07m 18s	+16° 49’ 19”	8.51		Cancer
	1 Ceres	23h 38m 05s	-11° 36’ 40”	9.32		Aquarius
	14 Irene	08h 36m 34s	+28° 57’ 59”	9.34		Cancer
	18 Melpomene	09h 03m 56s	+11° 00’ 09”	9.57		Cancer
	29 Amphitrite	10h 49m 44s	+12° 24’ 29”	9.68		Leo
	10 Hygiea	08h 43m 50s	+15° 40’ 56”	9.92		Cancer
	8 Flora	02h 50m 30s	+11° 46’ 42”	9.95		Aries
	7 Iris	21h 42m 46s	-09° 49’ 29”	10.20		Capricornus
	2 Pallas	20h 55m 23s	-00° 09’ 24”	10.49		Aquarius

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
	Dec. Leonis Minorids	20 Dec	10h 41m	+30°	5	medium