Today's Highlights

• The Sun is in the constellation of Virgo. The Moon is in the constellation of Aries and it is in Waning Gibbous phase.
• Comet C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) is in the constellation of Virgo and its latest observed magnitude is 4.6. It should be barely visible to the naked eye, easily visible with the help of a small binocular.
• Comet ZTF (C/2020 V2) is in the constellation of Sculptor and its latest observed magnitude is 9.0. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 60-70mm aperture or a small telescope.
• Comet Encke (2P/Encke) is in the constellation of Leo and its latest observed magnitude is 9.5. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 80mm aperture or a small telescope.
• emoji_objectsCheck out the full list of visible Bright Comets
• The next close approach with a Near Earth Object (NEO) will happen with Asteroid (NEO) 2022 UX1 on Oct 11 2023 at 13:53 UTC (8 days 14 hours 10 minutes), at an approach distance of 1,198,605 kilometers, or 3.12 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 8.58 kilometers per second.
• Neptune is at opposition, current elongation 166.3°
• Asteroid 29 Amphitrite is at opposition, current elongation 177.6°

Popular Objects This Week

Popular objects this week

The Solar System Today

This interactive 3D view shows the current positions of the major bodies of the Solar System and the brightest comets. For more advanced features, check out our 3D Solar System Viewer.

The Sun and the Moon Today

Here is how the Sun and the Moon look like today.

	R.A.	Decl.	Apparent Diameter	MagnitudeMag	ConstellationConst	Charts
radio_button_checked Sun	12h 33m 46s	-03° 38’ 39”	1,917.3”	-26.74 trending_flat	Virgo	location_searching map
radio_button_checked Moon	03h 36m 31s	+21° 35’ 05”	1,894.5”	-11.49 trending_down	Aries	map

The Planets Today

This table shows current essential information about the planets. By clicking on each row it is possible to view full details for each planet.

Planet	R.A.	Decl.	Apparent Diameter	MagnitudeMag	ConstellationConst	Charts
radio_button_checked Venus	09h 44m 30s	+10° 43’ 36”	31.1”	-4.67 trending_down	Leo	location_searching map
radio_button_checked Jupiter	02h 47m 35s	+14° 40’ 35”	46.9”	-2.82 trending_up	Aries	location_searching map
radio_button_checked Mercury	11h 48m 57s	+03° 15’ 58”	5.5”	-1.14 trending_up	Virgo	location_searching map
radio_button_checked Saturn	22h 14m 54s	-12° 46’ 13”	17.9”	0.60 trending_down	Aquarius	location_searching map
radio_button_checked Mars	13h 27m 31s	-08° 48’ 49”	3.7”	1.57 trending_flat	Virgo	location_searching map
radio_button_checked Uranus	03h 19m 42s	+18° 01’ 10”	3.7”	5.68 trending_flat	Aries	location_searching map
radio_button_checked Neptune	23h 45m 45s	-02° 56’ 00”	2.3”	7.69 trending_flat	Pisces	location_searching map

Apparent Size of the Planets Today

The apparent size of a planet depends on its size and the distance from Earth. The larger the distance, the smaller the apparent size. The image below shows a comparison between the apparent size of the planets if they were observed today.

Credits for the planet images: NASA-APL - NASA.

Additional Information

• List of Bright Comets. This is a list of the bright comets that are currently visible, or that will likely become bright and visible in the future. To provide the most accurate information, the data about visibility and other visual features is updated several times every day.
• List of Bright Asteroids. This list is similar to the list above, and provides constantly updated information about the brightest asteroids and dwarf planets visible in the sky.

Active Meteor Showers Visible 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. The data used here is derived from Wikipedia.

	Name	Peak	Radiant R.A.	Radiant Decl.	ZHR	Rating	Parent Object	Charts
radio_button_checked	Orionids	21 Oct	06h 17m	+16°	15	bright	1P/Halley	map
radio_button_checked	Southern Taurids	10 Oct	02h 06m	+09°	5	bright	Comet Encke	map
radio_button_checked	Daytime Sextantids	27 Sep	10h 05m	+00°	5	bright		map