Today's quick hilights

• The Sun is in the constellation of Virgo. The Moon is in the constellation of Aquarius and it is in Waxing Gibbous phase.
• Comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) latest observed magnitude is 8.6 and it is in the constellation of Lepus. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 60-70mm aperture or a small telescope.
• Comet 88P/Howell latest observed magnitude is 9.6 and it is in the constellation of Sagittarius. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 80mm aperture or a small telescope.
• Comet C/2020 Q1 (Borisov) latest observed magnitude is 12.1 and it is in the constellation of Vulpecula. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 8 inches (200mm) or more.
• The next close approach with a Near Earth Object (NEO) will happen with Asteroid (NEO) 2020 TR5 on Oct 28 2020 at 06:10 UTC (5 hours 37 minutes), at an approach distance of 1,546,817 kilometers, or 4.02 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 8.80 kilometers per second.
• Mars is at opposition, current elongation 162.0°
• Uranus is at opposition, current elongation 176.2°
• Asteroid 8 Flora is at opposition, current elongation 166.9°
• Asteroid 11 Parthenope is at opposition, current elongation 170.3°

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	14h 09m 58s	-13° 06’ 38”	1,931.3”	-26.76		Virgo
	Moon	23h 50m 20s	-07° 10’ 36”	1,775.2”	-11.60		Aquarius

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 01m 09s	+01° 30’ 50”	13.4”	-3.99		Virgo
	Mars	01h 05m 14s	+04° 44’ 45”	20.7”	-2.27		Pisces
	Jupiter	19h 27m 45s	-22° 21’ 20”	36.5”	-2.19		Sagittarius
	Saturn	19h 51m 07s	-21° 19’ 26”	15.9”	1.39		Sagittarius
	Mercury	13h 50m 33s	-11° 31’ 42”	9.8”	4.45		Virgo
	Uranus	02h 25m 15s	+13° 54’ 05”	3.7”	5.66		Aries
	Neptune	23h 18m 09s	-05° 42’ 19”	2.3”	7.84		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 (199)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	C/2020 M3 (ATLAS)	05h 12m 41s	-15° 47’ 08”	8.6	13.62		9.7'	Lepus Lep
	88P/Howell	18h 33m 01s	-27° 08’ 44”	9.6	14.89		3.3'	Sagittarius Sgr
	C/2020 Q1 (Borisov)	19h 49m 48s	+23° 33’ 09”	12.1	22.52		0.9'	Vulpecula Vul
	C/2019 U6 (Lemmon)	17h 24m 14s	+23° 06’ 47”	12.9	17.94		3.5'	Hercules Her
	C/2020 P1 (NEOWISE)	13h 19m 51s	+07° 44’ 47”	-	13.43		-	Virgo Vir
	C/2019 N1 (ATLAS)	13h 23m 33s	-03° 19’ 54”	-	14.27		-	Virgo Vir
	C/2018 N2 (ASASSN)	15h 10m 56s	+63° 25’ 12”	14.5	15.90		1.3'	Draco Dra
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	00h 05m 13s	+64° 57’ 27”	14.5	15.36		1.0'	Cassiopeia Cas
	C/2020 F5 (MASTER)	18h 23m 28s	-67° 46’ 52”	15.0	15.71		0.5'	Pavo Pav
	C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS)	15h 30m 29s	-14° 38’ 21”	-	15.02		-	Libra Lib
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	17h 15m 47s	+39° 22’ 36”	15.1	16.06		1.3'	Hercules Her
	Comet C/2020 S3	10h 05m 40s	-05° 33’ 45”	-	15.16		-	Sextans Sex
	C/2018 F4 (PANSTARRS)	02h 01m 55s	-36° 34’ 19”	15.2	17.01		0.7'	Fornax For
	C/2020 J1 (SONEAR)	17h 14m 40s	-49° 03’ 56”	15.2	15.60		0.4'	Ara Ara
	C/2020 F8 (SWAN)	06h 00m 33s	-03° 25’ 24”	-	15.26		-	Orion Ori
	29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1	02h 36m 40s	+27° 08’ 23”	-	15.28		-	Aries Ari
	C/2017 B3 (LINEAR)	23h 51m 07s	+02° 04’ 06”	15.7	17.82		1.1'	Pisces Psc
	C/2019 F1 (ATLAS-Africano)	14h 53m 02s	-35° 12’ 24”	-	16.03		-	Centaurus Cen
	11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR	23h 44m 24s	+23° 57’ 10”	16.2	17.35		0.8'	Pegasus Peg
	17P/Holmes	19h 07m 18s	-28° 04’ 07”	-	16.26		-	Sagittarius Sgr

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	10h 19m 46s	+13° 31’ 44”	7.99		Leo
	8 Flora	02h 45m 46s	+03° 22’ 57”	8.00		Cetus
	1 Ceres	22h 22m 23s	-24° 01’ 55”	8.67		Aquarius
	11 Parthenope	02h 00m 06s	+03° 44’ 41”	9.40		Pisces
	15 Eunomia	08h 30m 41s	+21° 58’ 51”	9.80		Cancer
	16 Psyche	05h 28m 00s	+18° 52’ 08”	10.17		Taurus
	2 Pallas	19h 07m 01s	+03° 23’ 05”	10.53		Aquila
	7 Iris	18h 52m 45s	-19° 11’ 09”	10.57		Sagittarius
	19 Fortuna	22h 54m 00s	-05° 49’ 34”	10.66		Aquarius
	20 Massalia	22h 01m 40s	-11° 30’ 03”	10.84		Aquarius

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
	Orionids	21 Oct	06h 17m	+16°	15	bright	1P/Halley
	Northern Taurids	12 Nov	03h 53m	+22°	5	bright	Comet Encke
	Southern Taurids	10 Oct	02h 06m	+09°	5	bright	Comet Encke