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 28m 55s | -19° 02’ 30” | 1,949.2” | -26.78 | Capricornus |
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Moon | 21h 08m 33s | -19° 35’ 40” | 1,801.7” | -4.88 |
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Capricornus |
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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 | 23h 03m 15s | -07° 20’ 47” | 14.8” | -4.07 |
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Aquarius |
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Jupiter | 18h 52m 11s | -22° 50’ 36” | 31.5” | -1.86 | Sagittarius |
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Mercury | 21h 11m 59s | -18° 06’ 58” | 5.2” | -1.07 |
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Capricornus |
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Saturn | 19h 43m 40s | -21° 16’ 38” | 14.6” | 1.38 | Sagittarius |
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Mars | 16h 54m 08s | -22° 29’ 01” | 4.7” | 1.41 |
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Ophiucus |
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Uranus | 02h 01m 46s | +11° 52’ 35” | 3.5” | 5.79 | Aries |
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Neptune | 23h 12m 18s | -06° 13’ 23” | 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
5.2”
14.8”
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 24m 58s | +57° 33’ 25” | 9.5 | 11.96 | 3.1' | Perseus Per |
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C/2018 N2 (ASASSN) | 23h 33m 52s | +41° 35’ 16” | 12.6 | 14.50 |
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1.1' | Andromeda And |
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C/2019 Y1 (ATLAS) | 23h 42m 03s | -10° 36’ 58” | - | 14.37 |
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- | Aquarius Aqr |
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260P/McNaught | 03h 24m 28s | +40° 44’ 28” | 15.0 | - | 3.3' |
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C/2020 A2 (Iwamoto) | 18h 09m 28s | +20° 27’ 24” | - | 15.23 |
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- | Hercules Her |
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C/2018 F4 (PANSTARRS) | 00h 27m 14s | -72° 34’ 35” | - | 15.92 | - | Tucana Tuc |
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C/2019 N1 (ATLAS) | 18h 15m 10s | +61° 14’ 11” | - | 16.21 |
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- | Draco Dra |
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C/2018 A6 (Gibbs) | 22h 38m 32s | -51° 17’ 39” | - | 16.32 |
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- | Grus Gru |
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C/2019 K1 (ATLAS) | 21h 33m 41s | -74° 14’ 01” | - | 16.38 |
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- | Pavo Pav |
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289P/Blanpain | 08h 00m 25s | +63° 13’ 06” | - | 16.64 |
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- | Camelopardalis Cam |
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C/2017 B3 (LINEAR) | 23h 18m 34s | -20° 19’ 55” | - | 16.77 |
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- | Aquarius Aqr |
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C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) | 12h 38m 19s | -51° 49’ 28” | - | 16.85 |
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- | Centaurus Cen |
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C/2019 K7 (Smith) | 20h 28m 28s | -13° 34’ 49” | - | 16.86 | - | Capricornus Cap |
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C/2019 F1 (ATLAS-Africano) | 14h 58m 34s | -13° 44’ 49” | - | 17.00 |
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- | Libra Lib |
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C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) | 18h 02m 12s | +45° 44’ 19” | - | 17.03 | - | Hercules Her |
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C/2017 M4 (ATLAS) | 14h 26m 16s | -67° 50’ 57” | - | 17.05 | - | Circinus Cir |
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C/2016 M1 (PANSTARRS) | 05h 43m 23s | -29° 05’ 38” | - | 17.09 |
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- | Columba Col |
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78P/Gehrels 2 | 09h 20m 50s | +06° 11’ 22” | - | 17.14 |
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- | Hydra Hya |
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C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) | 22h 33m 02s | +40° 23’ 46” | - | 17.67 | - | Lacerta Lac |
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C/2015 O1 (PANSTARRS) | 08h 22m 59s | +23° 55’ 53” | - | 17.99 |
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- | 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 | 20h 02m 11s | -25° 07’ 52” | 8.94 |
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Sagittarius |
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3122 Florence (1981 ET3) | 22h 04m 47s | -07° 06’ 05” | 16.59 |
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Aquarius |
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2015 BN509 | 08h 13m 32s | +21° 36’ 39” | 18.05 |
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Cancer |
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6478 Gault | 19h 05m 44s | -07° 07’ 31” | 18.66 | Aquila |
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1999 WK4 | 19h 03m 16s | -13° 50’ 30” | 19.02 | Sagittarius |
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A/2017 U7 | 20h 01m 02s | -32° 23’ 26” | 19.31 | Sagittarius |
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3200 Phaethon | 00h 49m 25s | +21° 11’ 11” | 19.45 |
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Pisces |
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249516 Aretha | 08h 44m 23s | +24° 51’ 31” | 19.95 |
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Cancer |
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1979 XB | 18h 00m 08s | -13° 42’ 16” | 20.59 |
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Serpens |
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2007 FT3 | 05h 59m 50s | +82° 19’ 55” | 21.74 |
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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]