Today's highlights

• It's tricky to predict, but newly discovered comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is a truly promising one for autumn next year. Here you can find detailed information, a 3d orbit visualization, interactive star maps and a real time position tracker to start following and observing it.
• Tonight observing guide from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
• The Sun is in the constellation of Pisces. The Moon is in the constellation of Taurus and it is in Waxing Crescent (approaching First Quarter) phase.
• Mercury and Jupiter are in conjunction with an apparent angular separation of 1° 18’ 41”, currently increasing. See in Planetarium.
• Comet ZTF (C/2020 V2) is in the constellation of Triangulum and its latest estimated magnitude is 12.01. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 8 inches (200mm) or more.
• Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is in the constellation of Eridanus and its latest estimated magnitude is 12.52. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 10 inches (250mm) or more.
• Comet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) is in the constellation of Eridanus and its latest estimated magnitude is 12.60. 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) 2023 FQ4 on Mar 30 2023 at 15:46 UTC (2 days 6 hours 58 minutes), at an approach distance of 1,538,988 kilometers, or 4.00 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 7.47 kilometers per second.
• Dwarf Planet 1 Ceres is at opposition, current elongation 161.2°

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	00h 26m 03s	+02° 48’ 52”	1,922.8”	-26.75		Pisces
	Moon	05h 56m 46s	+26° 53’ 55”	1,796.1”	-9.72		Taurus

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	02h 42m 44s	+16° 34’ 09”	13.7”	-4.00		Aries
	Jupiter	01h 07m 47s	+06° 02’ 29”	32.5”	-2.05		Pisces
	Mercury	01h 06m 17s	+07° 17’ 53”	5.5”	-1.41		Pisces
	Mars	06h 04m 46s	+25° 32’ 12”	6.6”	0.87		Gemini
	Saturn	22h 18m 00s	-11° 59’ 15”	15.1”	0.94		Aquarius
	Uranus	02h 55m 44s	+16° 24’ 10”	3.4”	5.86		Aries
	Neptune	23h 44m 28s	-02° 57’ 21”	2.2”	7.83		Pisces

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 (219)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	5D/Brorsen (Lost)	01h 33m 33s	+32° 15’ 17”	-	4.90		-	Triangulum Tri
	C/2020 V2 (ZTF)	02h 07m 31s	+33° 06’ 56”	-	12.01		-	Triangulum Tri
	C/2022 E3 (ZTF)	04h 50m 06s	-07° 04’ 00”	-	12.52		-	Eridanus Eri
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	03h 35m 07s	-41° 21’ 57”	-	12.60		-	Eridanus Eri
	364P/2018 A2 (PANSTARRS)	16h 11m 28s	+31° 56’ 10”	-	13.14		-	Corona Borealis CrB
	C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS)	23h 41m 59s	+44° 34’ 45”	-	13.18		-	Andromeda And
	C/2020 K1 (PANSTARRS)	20h 04m 43s	-43° 13’ 43”	-	13.45		-	Sagittarius Sgr
	81P/Wild 2	17h 36m 07s	-18° 58’ 40”	-	13.53		-	Ophiucus Oph
	C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)	15h 44m 14s	+12° 15’ 18”	-	14.37		-	Serpens Ser
	C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS)	05h 19m 26s	-30° 22’ 39”	-	14.69		-	Columba Col
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	09h 04m 21s	-33° 56’ 38”	-	14.70		-	Pyxis Pyx
	237P/LINEAR	18h 44m 10s	-21° 33’ 00”	-	14.76		-	Sagittarius Sgr
	C/2021 Y1 (ATLAS)	03h 51m 20s	-19° 38’ 14”	-	15.39		-	Eridanus Eri
	77P/Longmore	14h 28m 39s	-24° 55’ 55”	-	15.65		-	Libra Lib
	96P/Machholz 1	20h 20m 13s	-08° 15’ 51”	-	15.73		-	Aquila Aql
	C/2020 S4 (PANSTARRS)	09h 22m 12s	+29° 21’ 56”	-	15.93		-	Cancer Cnc
	126P/IRAS	23h 06m 49s	-34° 21’ 31”	-	16.08		-	Pisces Austrinus PsA
	C/2022 L2 (ATLAS)	18h 34m 32s	+18° 06’ 56”	-	16.18		-	Hercules Her
	P/2010 H2 (Vales)	04h 07m 44s	+23° 47’ 35”	-	16.30		-	Taurus Tau
	71P/Clark	22h 07m 35s	-18° 13’ 50”	-	16.32		-	Aquarius Aqr

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
	1 Ceres	12h 21m 49s	+15° 56’ 00”	6.95		Coma
	4 Vesta	01h 26m 25s	+03° 39’ 37”	8.26		Pisces
	2 Pallas	07h 00m 01s	-05° 14’ 04”	8.27		Monoceros
	3 Juno	02h 38m 18s	+06° 28’ 26”	9.52		Cetus
	6 Hebe	08h 03m 32s	+20° 43’ 53”	10.17		Cancer
	7 Iris	14h 49m 32s	-22° 05’ 02”	10.29		Libra
	17 Thetis	13h 30m 46s	+00° 17’ 15”	10.77		Virgo
	15 Eunomia	19h 08m 25s	-28° 12’ 00”	10.85		Sagittarius
	9 Metis	00h 18m 40s	-01° 51’ 54”	10.91		Pisces
	18 Melpomene	21h 55m 36s	-09° 42’ 08”	11.09		Capricornus

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