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Today's highlights

• NEW! Check out the Mars Perseverance Rover Photostream!
• The Sun is in the constellation of Virgo. The Moon is in the constellation of Aries and it is in Waning Gibbous phase.
• Comet 8P/Tuttle latest observed magnitude is 9.5 and it is in the constellation of Hydra. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 80mm aperture or a small telescope.
• Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko latest observed magnitude is 10.4 and it is in the constellation of Gemini. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 80mm aperture or a small telescope.
• Comet C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) latest observed magnitude is 10.6 and it is in the constellation of Lynx. It should be visible with the help of a telescope havng an aperture of 6 inches (150mm) or more.
• The next close approach with a Near Earth Object (NEO) will happen with Asteroid (NEO) 2019 XS on Nov 9 2021 at 03:48 UTC (17 days 8 hours 28 minutes), at an approach distance of 573,945 kilometers, or 1.49 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 10.68 kilometers per second.
• Uranus is at opposition, current elongation 166.3°

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	13h 49m 00s	-11° 13’ 43”	1,928.4”	-26.75		Virgo
	Moon	03h 27m 27s	+17° 14’ 30”	1,773.3”	-11.99		Aries

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	16h 58m 00s	-26° 06’ 39”	23.1”	-4.43		Ophiucus
	Jupiter	21h 39m 13s	-15° 13’ 45”	42.5”	-2.55		Capricornus
	Mercury	12h 44m 28s	-02° 53’ 42”	7.4”	-0.26		Virgo
	Saturn	20h 37m 12s	-19° 23’ 23”	16.5”	0.60		Capricornus
	Mars	13h 31m 31s	-08° 59’ 33”	3.6”	1.52		Virgo
	Uranus	02h 42m 46s	+15° 20’ 20”	3.7”	5.69		Aries
	Neptune	23h 26m 59s	-04° 49’ 44”	2.3”	7.70		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 (205)

	Comet	R.A.	Decl.	Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs	Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred		Coma DiameterComa Diam	ConstellationConst	Map
	8P/Tuttle	11h 55m 00s	-35° 33’ 25”	9.5	16.76		2.5'	Hydra Hya
	67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko	06h 38m 03s	+25° 29’ 38”	10.4	12.05		4.3'	Gemini Gem
	C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	07h 43m 56s	+41° 17’ 40”	10.6	13.04		4.4'	Lynx Lyn
	4P/Faye	06h 38m 33s	+13° 00’ 58”	11.5	13.31		3.4'	Gemini Gem
	C/2020 T2 (Palomar)	17h 04m 08s	-28° 19’ 45”	11.6	15.65		4.5'	Ophiucus Oph
	C/2021 A1 (Leonard)	11h 40m 01s	+35° 37’ 37”	12.4	13.89		3.6'	Ursa Major UMa
	19P/Borrelly	23h 06m 04s	-54° 58’ 11”	12.5	13.35		7.0'	Grus Gru
	C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)	17h 08m 11s	+22° 16’ 19”	12.7	14.03		2.2'	Hercules Her
	7P/Pons-Winnecke	23h 16m 44s	-41° 25’ 04”	13.8	18.40		5.3'	Grus Gru
	C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)	11h 05m 36s	-25° 25’ 10”	13.8	14.98		0.9'	Hydra Hya
	108P/Ciffreo	06h 55m 13s	+28° 18’ 00”	14.6	15.66		2.1'	Gemini Gem
	C/2021 O1 (Nishimura)	13h 45m 45s	-05° 19’ 42”	-	14.68		-	Virgo Vir
	132P/Helin-Roman-Alu 2	00h 21m 58s	-03° 06’ 55”	-	14.88		-	Pisces Psc
	C/2019 F1 (ATLAS-Africano)	21h 27m 50s	-74° 34’ 32”	14.9	15.19		0.5'	Octans Oct
	15P/Finlay	08h 44m 25s	+25° 50’ 52”	15.0	17.76		3.0'	Cancer Cnc
	C/2020 F5 (MASTER)	22h 26m 16s	-26° 34’ 54”	15.0	15.59		0.8'	Pisces Austrinus PsA
	C/2021 E3 (ZTF)	18h 35m 50s	+09° 01’ 12”	16.0	15.28		0.6'	Ophiucus Oph
	P/2021 N2 (Fuls)	02h 20m 21s	+15° 57’ 51”	15.6	17.25		0.2'	Aries Ari
	C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS)	12h 31m 52s	-33° 06’ 03”	-	15.61		-	Hydra Hya
	104P/Kowal 2	21h 40m 57s	-08° 49’ 04”	-	15.64		-	Capricornus Cap

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	15h 00m 20s	-13° 05’ 58”	7.57		Libra
	1 Ceres	04h 42m 02s	+16° 15’ 42”	7.90		Taurus
	7 Iris	07h 41m 31s	+21° 02’ 15”	9.27		Gemini
	2 Pallas	22h 46m 05s	-08° 48’ 32”	9.33		Aquarius
	6 Hebe	19h 54m 46s	-22° 41’ 54”	9.87		Sagittarius
	324 Dembowska	21h 19m 39s	-24° 14’ 34”	10.63		Capricornus
	12 Victoria	20h 49m 28s	-06° 33’ 12”	10.63		Aquarius
	20 Massalia	08h 39m 18s	+17° 40’ 32”	10.64		Cancer
	14 Irene	14h 05m 57s	-07° 24’ 37”	11.00		Virgo
	29 Amphitrite	13h 41m 48s	-13° 03’ 44”	11.05		Virgo

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
	Epsilon Geminids	18 Oct	06h 47m	+27°	3	medium	C/1964 N1 (Ikeya)
	Leonis Minorids	24 Oct	10h 48m	+37°	2	medium