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

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	11h 31m 10s	+03° 06’ 43”	1,908.0”	-26.73		Leo
	Moon	00h 34m 05s	-01° 44’ 07”	1,769.1”	-12.17		Pisces

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	12h 05m 34s	+00° 47’ 53”	9.8”	-3.89		Virgo
	Jupiter	16h 59m 34s	-22° 24’ 27”	36.5”	-2.12		Ophiucus
	Mercury	12h 08m 18s	+00° 00’ 27”	4.9”	-0.81		Virgo
	Saturn	18h 59m 10s	-22° 31’ 58”	16.7”	1.29		Sagittarius
	Mars	11h 16m 42s	+05° 46’ 58”	3.5”	1.76		Leo
	Uranus	02h 14m 56s	+12° 59’ 27”	3.7”	5.71		Aries
	Neptune	23h 13m 24s	-06° 09’ 04”	2.3”	7.82		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 ephemerides service and might be inaccurate given the highly dynamic and unpredictable behvior 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 (168)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	C/2018 W2 (Africano)	01h 37m 28s	+43° 30’ 19”	9.5	11.00		6.2'	Andromeda And
	C/2018 N2 (ASASSN)	02h 18m 50s	+27° 46’ 27”	11.7	12.74		1.7'	Aries Ari
	C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS)	05h 29m 27s	+24° 48’ 02”	11.9	12.58		1.5'	Taurus Tau
	260P/McNaught	02h 38m 27s	+30° 11’ 52”	12.2	13.55		1.1'	Aries Ari
	168P/Hergenrother	05h 40m 11s	+43° 51’ 59”	-	14.34		-	Auriga Aur
	29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1	00h 51m 41s	+16° 10’ 29”	-	14.76		-	Pisces Psc
	C/2018 A6 (Gibbs)	09h 30m 58s	-73° 22’ 05”	-	14.98		-	Carina Car
	68P/Klemola	17h 53m 08s	-11° 57’ 12”	-	15.06		-	Serpens Ser
	C/2017 B3 (LINEAR)	23h 30m 28s	-44° 36’ 50”	-	15.58		-	Phoenix Phe
	P/2010 H2 (Vales)	20h 13m 32s	-35° 50’ 39”	-	15.65		-	Sagittarius Sgr
	25D/Neujmin 2	11h 56m 17s	-02° 26’ 31”	-	16.19		-	Virgo Vir
	C/2017 M4 (ATLAS)	13h 39m 44s	-44° 26’ 54”	-	16.22		-	Centaurus Cen
	C/2016 M1 (PANSTARRS)	07h 03m 11s	-30° 23’ 24”	-	16.42		-	Canis Majoris CMa
	78P/Gehrels 2	08h 15m 37s	+14° 44’ 52”	-	16.46		-	Cancer Cnc
	C/2019 K7	20h 25m 41s	-31° 15’ 06”	-	16.46		-	Sagittarius Sgr
	C/2019 K1	14h 54m 05s	-40° 46’ 00”	-	16.65		-	Centaurus Cen
	C/2018 F4 (PANSTARRS)	11h 31m 15s	-59° 02’ 50”	-	16.71		-	Centaurus Cen
	C/2019 K5	03h 28m 24s	+06° 49’ 37”	-	16.74		-	Taurus Tau
	C/2018 R3 (Lemmon)	10h 23m 07s	+07° 30’ 38”	-	16.78		-	Leo Leo
	C/2019 K4	00h 15m 35s	+10° 40’ 14”	-	17.25		-	Pisces Psc

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 dward planets (76)

	Asteroid	R.A.	Decl.	MagnitudeMag		ConstellationConst	Map
	4 Vesta	03h 47m 22s	+11° 03’ 00”	7.46		Taurus
	15 Eunomia	20h 51m 12s	-06° 05’ 11”	8.77		Aquarius
	1 Ceres	16h 29m 17s	-23° 29’ 37”	8.97		Ophiucus
	29 Amphitrite	01h 29m 29s	+12° 13’ 18”	9.39		Pisces
	9 Metis	02h 32m 41s	+07° 50’ 24”	9.65		Cetus
	2 Pallas	14h 53m 37s	+10° 45’ 19”	10.03		Bootes
	16 Psyche	20h 40m 54s	-17° 45’ 47”	10.16		Capricornus
	18 Melpomene	18h 19m 22s	-17° 18’ 26”	10.24		Sagittarius
	3 Juno	10h 41m 17s	+05° 38’ 01”	10.46		Sextans
	13 Egeria	22h 56m 28s	-31° 24’ 22”	10.91		Pisces Austrinus

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
	Southern Taurids	10 Oct	02h 05m	+09°	5	bright	Comet Encke
	Daytime Sextantids	27 Sep	10h 06m	+00°	5	bright
	September Epsilon Perseids	9 Sep	03h 12m	+40°	5	medium