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Today's highlights

• NEW! Check out the Mars Perseverance Rover Photostream!
• The Sun is in the constellation of Aquarius. The Moon is in the constellation of Ophiucus and it is in Waning Crescent (just past Last Quarter) phase.
• Mercury and Jupiter are in conjunction with an apparent angular separation of 0° 56’ 03”, currently increasing. See in Planetarium.
• Comet 88P/Howell latest observed magnitude is 12.8 and it is in the constellation of Cetus. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 10 inches (250mm) or more.
• Comet C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) latest observed magnitude is 12.9 and it is in the constellation of Perseus. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 10 inches (250mm) or more.
• Comet 156P/Russell-LINEAR latest observed magnitude is 13.4 and it is in the constellation of Perseus. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 10 inches (250mm) or more.
• The next close approach with a Near Earth Object (NEO) will happen with Asteroid (NEO) 2021 EB on Mar 6 2021 at 17:43 UTC (8 hours 37 minutes), at an approach distance of 2,729,971 kilometers, or 7.10 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 12.53 kilometers per second.
• Asteroid 4 Vesta is at opposition, current elongation 169.0°
• Asteroid 29 Amphitrite is at opposition, current elongation 164.5°

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	23h 07m 25s	-05° 37’ 51”	1,934.1”	-26.76		Aquarius
	Moon	17h 13m 43s	-24° 20’ 39”	1,921.1”	-10.04		Ophiucus

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	22h 51m 03s	-08° 50’ 34”	9.8”	-3.92		Aquarius
	Jupiter	21h 20m 40s	-16° 08’ 11”	32.5”	-1.98		Capricornus
	Mercury	21h 24m 09s	-15° 43’ 50”	7.1”	0.06		Capricornus
	Mars	03h 54m 10s	+21° 46’ 48”	6.2”	0.99		Taurus
	Saturn	20h 45m 12s	-18° 31’ 34”	14.9”	1.42		Capricornus
	Uranus	02h 21m 12s	+13° 37’ 15”	3.4”	5.84		Aries
	Neptune	23h 25m 33s	-04° 52’ 31”	2.2”	7.96		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 (193)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	88P/Howell	00h 43m 27s	+02° 46’ 17”	12.8	17.46		3.4'	Cetus Cet
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	01h 35m 32s	+51° 48’ 40”	12.9	14.71		1.2'	Perseus Per
	156P/Russell-LINEAR	04h 25m 18s	+40° 40’ 26”	13.4	18.09		1.4'	Perseus Per
	C/2021 A4 (NEOWISE)	04h 23m 53s	+08° 41’ 55”	13.5	15.97		1.2'	Taurus Tau
	C/2020 R4 (ATLAS)	20h 34m 55s	-10° 36’ 13”	-	13.52		-	Capricornus Cap
	P/2016 J3 (STEREO)	19h 15m 50s	-52° 33’ 10”	-	13.61		-	Telescopium Tel
	C/2020 T2 (Palomar)	14h 06m 31s	+31° 46’ 07”	13.7	15.00		3.7'	Canes Venatici CVn
	C/2019 N1 (ATLAS)	02h 22m 36s	-84° 44’ 23”	-	13.96		-	Octans Oct
	C/2020 M3 (ATLAS)	06h 22m 51s	+47° 09’ 13”	14.1	18.22		2.2'	Auriga Aur
	11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR	05h 00m 44s	+08° 58’ 40”	14.2	20.92		1.0'	Orion Ori
	75D/Kohoutek (Lost)	03h 24m 36s	+19° 08’ 01”	-	14.37		-	Aries Ari
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	18h 24m 31s	+37° 14’ 34”	14.5	15.30		1.4'	Lyra Lyr
	398P/Boattini	07h 06m 10s	+27° 12’ 21”	14.6	16.64		1.1'	Gemini Gem
	C/2020 J1 (SONEAR)	17h 44m 28s	-39° 53’ 00”	-	14.65		-	Scorpius Sco
	C/2019 F1 (ATLAS-Africano)	18h 13m 08s	-60° 20’ 44”	-	15.12		-	Pavo Pav
	246P/NEAT	18h 28m 47s	-23° 00’ 24”	-	15.23		-	Sagittarius Sgr
	C/2020 F5 (MASTER)	22h 23m 01s	-44° 41’ 57”	-	15.42		-	Grus Gru
	C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)	08h 00m 19s	-37° 21’ 14”	-	15.55		-	Puppis Pup
	141P/Machholz 2	04h 27m 11s	+06° 36’ 22”	-	15.70		-	Taurus Tau
	C/2021 A2	05h 13m 18s	+39° 37’ 53”	-	15.86		-	Auriga Aur

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
	4 Vesta	11h 16m 56s	+16° 20’ 47”	5.84		Leo
	1 Ceres	00h 29m 33s	-05° 01’ 15”	9.19		Cetus
	29 Amphitrite	10h 15m 26s	+14° 23’ 54”	9.39		Leo
	15 Eunomia	07h 42m 10s	+15° 59’ 13”	9.53		Gemini
	7 Iris	23h 03m 15s	-02° 03’ 37”	9.74		Pisces
	9 Metis	13h 28m 55s	-01° 08’ 20”	10.03		Virgo
	14 Irene	08h 08m 26s	+31° 15’ 29”	10.10		Cancer
	18 Melpomene	08h 32m 25s	+16° 14’ 55”	10.35		Cancer
	2 Pallas	21h 45m 15s	+01° 54’ 24”	10.50		Aquarius
	8 Flora	03h 53m 52s	+18° 04’ 53”	10.53		Taurus

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
	Gamma Normids	14 Mar	15h 54m	-50°	6	bright