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- NEW: follow New Horizons historical approach to KBO 2014 MU69 (Ultima Thule)
- Find key 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 to data you can find in this page:
- 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 | 12h 10m 43s | -01° 09’ 43” | 1,913.8” | -26.74 | Virgo |
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Moon | 01h 10m 20s | +02° 12’ 54” | 1,835.3” | -12.29 |
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Cetus |
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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 | 14h 17m 37s | -20° 28’ 59” | 42.8” | -4.78 | Virgo |
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Jupiter | 15h 14m 58s | -17° 14’ 53” | 32.2” | -1.82 | Libra |
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Mars | 20h 29m 18s | -23° 18’ 12” | 16.5” | -1.43 |
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Capricornus |
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Mercury | 12h 27m 59s | -01° 52’ 35” | 4.8” | -1.30 |
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Virgo |
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Saturn | 18h 11m 17s | -22° 45’ 19” | 16.0” | 1.39 | Sagittarius |
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Uranus | 01h 57m 39s | +11° 25’ 23” | 3.7” | 5.70 | Aries |
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Neptune | 23h 03m 45s | -07° 05’ 44” | 2.3” | 7.82 | Aquarius |
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= current altitude ≥ 30°
= current altitude < 30°
= below the horizonLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
Current Planets Apparent Size Comparison
4.8”
42.8”
16.5”
32.2”
16.0”
3.7”
2.3”
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 (138)
| Comet | R.A. | Decl. | Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs | Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred | Coma DiameterComa Diam | ConstellationConst | Map | ||
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21P/Giacobini-Zinner | 06h 41m 14s | +06° 36’ 13” | 7.8 | 12.09 |
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5.0' | Monoceros Mon |
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64P/Swift-Gehrels | 00h 27m 15s | +29° 55’ 45” | 11.3 | 14.46 |
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6.4' | Andromeda And |
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38P/Stephan-Oterma | 05h 44m 23s | +11° 08’ 52” | 11.9 | 11.90 |
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1.4' | Orion Ori |
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C/2016 M1 (PANSTARRS) | 14h 25m 29s | -61° 07’ 51” | - | 12.70 |
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- | Centaurus Cen |
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78P/Gehrels 2 | 21h 20m 29s | -07° 31’ 31” | - | 13.19 | - | Aquarius Aqr |
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C/2016 N6 (PANSTARRS) | 09h 00m 08s | +13° 07’ 52” | - | 13.41 | - | Cancer Cnc |
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48P/Johnson | 22h 28m 06s | -28° 46’ 53” | - | 13.45 |
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- | Pisces Austrinus PsA |
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C/2017 T3 (ATLAS) | 13h 16m 44s | -28° 58’ 06” | - | 14.13 |
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- | Hydra Hya |
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29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 | 22h 54m 16s | +00° 07’ 50” | - | 14.44 | - | Pisces Psc |
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46P/Wirtanen | 01h 51m 31s | -24° 49’ 15” | - | 14.46 |
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C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) | 12h 10m 43s | +47° 50’ 13” | - | 14.68 | - | Ursa Major UMa |
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C/2018 L2 (ATLAS) | 15h 14m 13s | -05° 02’ 19” | - | 14.89 |
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- | Libra Lib |
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66P/du Toit | 00h 25m 51s | -10° 46’ 17” | - | 15.05 |
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- | Cetus Cet |
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P/2010 H2 (Vales) | 16h 16m 51s | -25° 26’ 03” | - | 15.17 |
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- | Scorpius Sco |
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C/2017 M4 (ATLAS) | 16h 18m 48s | +12° 14’ 26” | - | 15.32 |
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- | Hercules Her |
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C/2017 B3 (LINEAR) | 14h 09m 30s | -66° 22’ 10” | - | 15.40 | - | Circinus Cir |
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C/2018 N2 (ASASSN) | 02h 47m 33s | -46° 44’ 16” | - | 15.51 |
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- | Eridanus Eri |
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C/2017 S3 (PANSTARRS) | 12h 02m 28s | +14° 16’ 17” | - | 15.58 |
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- | Coma Com |
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C/2015 O1 (PANSTARRS) | 11h 54m 17s | +35° 37’ 56” | - | 15.74 | - | Ursa Major UMa |
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37P/Forbes | 23h 02m 38s | +05° 52’ 01” | - | 15.76 |
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- | Pisces Psc |
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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 dward planets (65)
| Asteroid | R.A. | Decl. | MagnitudeMag | ConstellationConst | Map | ||
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4 Vesta | 18h 10m 11s | -25° 34’ 05” | 7.37 |
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Sagittarius |
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3 Juno | 04h 00m 46s | +05° 51’ 52” | 8.33 |
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Taurus |
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1 Ceres | 12h 43m 38s | +03° 06’ 08” | 8.54 |
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Virgo |
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2 Pallas | 10h 33m 45s | -02° 18’ 27” | 8.94 |
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Sextans |
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6 Hebe | 06h 19m 45s | +07° 20’ 05” | 9.69 |
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Orion |
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10 Hygiea | 23h 52m 14s | +05° 00’ 21” | 10.09 |
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Pisces |
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7 Iris | 10h 50m 16s | +03° 12’ 03” | 10.66 |
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Sextans |
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5 Astraea | 23h 45m 06s | -06° 44’ 59” | 10.95 |
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Aquarius |
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20 Massalia | 12h 02m 54s | -00° 33’ 07” | 11.01 |
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Virgo |
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29 Amphitrite | 17h 34m 59s | -29° 08’ 02” | 11.07 |
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Ophiucus |
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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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Southern Taurids | 10 Oct | 02h 05m | +09° | 5 | bright | Comet Encke |
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Daytime Sextantids | 27 Sep | 10h 06m | +00° | 5 | bright |
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= current altitude ≥ 30°
= current altitude < 30°
= below the horizonLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]