Today's highlights
- Check out the Mars Perseverance Rover Photostream!
- The Sun is in the constellation of Capricornus. The Moon is in the constellation of Aries and it is in First Quarter phase.
- Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is in the constellation of Ursa Minor and its latest observed magnitude is 5.2. It should be barely visible to the naked eye, easily visible with the help of a small binocular.
- Comet 96P/Machholz 1 is in the constellation of Capricornus and its latest estimated magnitude is 5.45. It should be barely visible to the naked eye, easily visible with the help of a small binocular.
- 5D/Brorsen (Lost) is in the constellation of Aquarius and its latest estimated magnitude is 9.18. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 60-70mm aperture or a small telescope.
- The next close approach with a Near Earth Object (NEO) will happen with Asteroid (NEO) 2023 BM5 on Jan 29 2023 at 11:37 UTC (11 hours 57 minutes), at an approach distance of 758,275 kilometers, or 1.97 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 15.49 kilometers per second.
- Asteroid 6 Hebe is at opposition, current elongation 173.7°
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 43m 33s | -18° 08’ 45” | 1,948.3” | -26.78 | Capricornus |
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Moon | 02h 37m 29s | +15° 14’ 53” | 1,840.3” | -10.28 |
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Aries |
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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 18m 19s | -12° 11’ 53” | 11.0” | -3.91 | Aquarius |
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Jupiter | 00h 20m 53s | +00° 58’ 03” | 35.6” | -2.20 | Pisces |
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Mars | 04h 28m 51s | +24° 33’ 21” | 11.0” | -0.35 |
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Taurus |
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Mercury | 18h 58m 24s | -21° 33’ 16” | 6.9” | -0.04 |
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Sagittarius |
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Saturn | 21h 51m 32s | -14° 17’ 59” | 14.9” | 0.87 | Capricornus |
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Uranus | 02h 49m 06s | +15° 53’ 49” | 3.6” | 5.76 | Aries |
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Neptune | 23h 36m 50s | -03° 46’ 49” | 2.2” | 7.81 | Aquarius |
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= current altitude ≥ 30°
= current altitude < 30°
= below the horizonLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
Current Planets Apparent Size Comparison
6.9”
11.0”
11.0”
35.6”
14.9”
3.6”
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 (227)
| Comet | R.A. | Decl. | Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs | Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred | Coma DiameterComa Diam | ConstellationConst | Map | ||
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C/2022 E3 (ZTF) | 12h 58m 40s | +77° 39’ 56” | 5.2 | 8.12 |
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15.6' | Ursa Minor UMi |
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96P/Machholz 1 | 21h 17m 50s | -21° 39’ 14” | - | 5.45 |
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- | Capricornus Cap |
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5D/Brorsen (Lost) | 23h 24m 42s | -15° 56’ 27” | - | 9.18 |
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- | Aquarius Aqr |
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C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) | 19h 14m 11s | +58° 43’ 28” | 9.2 | 12.18 | 4.4' | Draco Dra |
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C/2022 U2 (ATLAS) | 04h 19m 43s | +57° 05’ 06” | 10.1 | 14.86 |
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5.0' | Camelopardalis Cam |
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C/2020 V2 (ZTF) | 01h 28m 37s | +58° 52’ 25” | - | 11.60 |
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- | Cassiopeia Cas |
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C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) | 22h 21m 42s | -70° 41’ 16” | - | 12.09 | - | Indus Ind |
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C/2022 S3 (PANSTARRS) | 22h 42m 33s | -60° 08’ 30” | - | 12.84 | - | Tucana Tuc |
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81P/Wild 2 | 15h 45m 34s | -16° 51’ 44” | - | 12.99 | - | Libra Lib |
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C/2019 T4 (ATLAS) | 15h 28m 10s | +02° 16’ 32” | 13.1 | 14.52 |
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2.1' | Serpens Ser |
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119P/Parker-Hartley | 07h 35m 51s | +24° 22’ 51” | 13.8 | 16.17 |
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2.0' | Gemini Gem |
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C/2020 K1 (PANSTARRS) | 18h 56m 13s | -29° 53’ 31” | - | 14.09 |
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- | Sagittarius Sgr |
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C/2021 Y1 (ATLAS) | 03h 15m 29s | -11° 30’ 28” | 14.2 | 15.07 |
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1.9' | Eridanus Eri |
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C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) | 09h 39m 37s | -34° 13’ 56” | - | 14.29 |
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- | Antlia Ant |
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118P/Shoemaker-Levy 4 | 08h 32m 09s | +13° 29’ 19” | - | 15.08 |
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- | Cancer Cnc |
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C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS) | 05h 22m 25s | -37° 33’ 40” | - | 15.17 |
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- | Columba Col |
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C/2020 S4 (PANSTARRS) | 09h 32m 57s | +24° 00’ 55” | 15.2 | 15.64 | 0.9' | Leo Leo |
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29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 | 06h 23m 14s | +29° 09’ 50” | - | 15.81 | - | Auriga Aur |
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C/2021 E3 (ZTF) | 07h 31m 07s | -34° 52’ 46” | - | 15.93 |
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- | Puppis Pup |
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P/2010 H2 (Vales) | 03h 36m 55s | +21° 05’ 38” | - | 15.98 |
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- | Taurus Tau |
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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 (79)
| Asteroid | R.A. | Decl. | MagnitudeMag | ConstellationConst | Map | ||
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2 Pallas | 06h 34m 38s | -26° 48’ 45” | 7.64 | Canis Majoris |
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1 Ceres | 12h 46m 40s | +10° 28’ 29” | 7.76 |
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4 Vesta | 23h 51m 48s | -07° 12’ 23” | 8.45 | Aquarius |
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6 Hebe | 08h 24m 32s | +13° 52’ 28” | 8.74 |
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Cancer |
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3 Juno | 00h 38m 41s | -04° 06’ 53” | 9.58 | Cetus |
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324 Dembowska | 03h 57m 33s | +28° 31’ 03” | 10.62 |
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Taurus |
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324 Bamberga | 03h 32m 26s | +32° 53’ 01” | 11.00 |
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Perseus |
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29 Amphitrite | 20h 44m 33s | -21° 31’ 47” | 11.08 | Capricornus |
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7 Iris | 14h 38m 53s | -20° 25’ 48” | 11.11 |
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Libra |
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18 Melpomene | 19h 48m 16s | -16° 27’ 57” | 11.12 | Sagittarius |
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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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Alpha Centaurids | 8 Feb | 14h 00m | -59° | 6 | bright |
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Dec. Leonis Minorids | 20 Dec | 10h 41m | +30° | 5 | medium |
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= current altitude ≥ 30°
= current altitude < 30°
= below the horizonLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]