Today's Highlights
- The Sun is in the constellation of Aries. The Moon is in the constellation of Leo and it is in Waxing Gibbous phase.
- Jupiter and Uranus are in conjunction with an apparent angular separation of 0° 36’ 35”, currently decreasing. See in Planetarium.
- Mercury and Venus are in conjunction with an apparent angular separation of 1° 46’ 12”, currently decreasing. See in Planetarium.
- Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is in the constellation of Aries and its latest observed magnitude is 3.9. It should be barely visible to the naked eye, easily visible with the help of a small binocular.
- Comet 13P/Olbers is in the constellation of Taurus and its latest observed magnitude is 9.8. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 80mm aperture or a small telescope.
- Comet C/2023 A1 (Leonard) is in the constellation of Pictor and its latest observed magnitude is 10.4. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 80mm aperture or a small telescope.
- The next close approach with a Near Earth Object (NEO) will happen with Asteroid (NEO) 2021 JW2 on Apr 19 2024 at 08:53 UTC (4 hours 21 minutes), at an approach distance of 623,093 kilometers, or 1.62 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 5.09 kilometers per second.
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.
View larger 3D Solar System Simulator
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | 01h 48m 54s | +11° 12’ 53” | 1,910.5” | -26.73 | Aries | location_searching map |
| Moon | 10h 36m 37s | +11° 21’ 35” | 1,768.4” | -11.20 | Leo | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venus | 01h 04m 47s | +05° 20’ 39” | 10.0” | -3.88 | Pisces | location_searching map |
| Jupiter | 03h 15m 22s | +17° 16’ 03” | 32.5” | -2.02 | Aries | location_searching map |
| Saturn | 23h 08m 09s | -07° 24’ 32” | 15.4” | 1.07 | Aquarius | location_searching map |
| Mars | 23h 28m 12s | -04° 48’ 15” | 4.6” | 1.12 | Aquarius | location_searching map |
| Mercury | 01h 03m 21s | +07° 04’ 30” | 11.5” | 3.30 | Pisces | location_searching map |
| Uranus | 03h 16m 09s | +17° 50’ 53” | 3.4” | 5.86 | Aries | location_searching map |
| Neptune | 23h 55m 24s | -01° 49’ 59” | 2.2” | 7.82 | Pisces | location_searching map |
The image below shows the current position of the 4 Galilean satellites of Jupiter. A page dedicated to Jupiter's moons is available, with more advanced features.
The image below shows the current inclination of the rings of Saturn and the positions of its major satellites. A page dedicated to the system of Saturn is available, with more advanced features.
The image below shows a comparison between the apparent size of the planets as they appear 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.
11.5”
10.0”
4.6”
32.5”
15.4”
3.4”
2.2”
Credits for the planet images: NASA-APL - NASA.
Top 10 Brightest Comets
This is a list of the brightest comets currently visible in the sky. A more extensive list of (241) bright and interesting comets is available on the site, please check it out.
| Comet | R.A. | Decl. | Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs | Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred | Coma DiameterComa Diam | ConstellationConst | Charts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12P/Pons-Brooks | 03h 21m 11s | +11° 12’ 03” | 3.9 | 4.43 |
|
4.0' | Aries Ari | location_searching map | |
| 13P/Olbers | 04h 12m 45s | +22° 00’ 29” | 9.8 | 9.82 |
|
2.9' | Taurus Tau | location_searching map | |
| C/2023 A1 (Leonard) | 05h 07m 28s | -51° 44’ 59” | 10.4 | 24.73 |
|
0.0' | Pictor Pic | location_searching map | |
| C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) | 13h 54m 25s | -02° 35’ 29” | 10.7 | 11.90 |
|
1.5' | Virgo Vir | location_searching map | |
| C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS) | 20h 02m 21s | +35° 38’ 42” | 11.3 | 8.12 |
|
2.0' | Cygnus Cyg | location_searching map | |
| 144P/Kushida | 08h 00m 58s | +15° 33’ 17” | 12.0 | 16.31 |
|
2.1' | Cancer Cnc | location_searching map | |
| 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann | 08h 06m 33s | +20° 53’ 36” | 13.2 | 17.59 |
|
2.8' | Cancer Cnc | location_searching map | |
| 62P/Tsuchinshan | 12h 03m 54s | +08° 07’ 49” | 13.4 | 15.84 |
|
2.4' | Virgo Vir | location_searching map | |
| C/2021 G2 (Atlas) | 11h 54m 16s | -33° 02’ 27” | 13.6 | 14.55 | 1.3' | Hydra Hya | location_searching map | ||
| C/2019 U5 (PANSTARRS) | 07h 23m 30s | -36° 44’ 10” | 14.1 | 15.51 |
|
0.5' | Puppis Pup | location_searching map |
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.
Brightest Asteroids Visible Today
This is a list of the top 10 brightest asteroids visible tonight. Click on each line to go to the asteroids's detail page. You can also check the full list of tracked asteroids and dwarf planets (79).
| Asteroid | R.A. | Decl. | MagnitudeMag | ConstellationConst | Charts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Vesta | 06h 24m 07s | +24° 49’ 48” | 8.25 | Gemini | location_searching map | ||
| 1 Ceres | 19h 24m 28s | -23° 52’ 44” | 8.64 |
|
Sagittarius | location_searching map | |
| 2 Pallas | 16h 47m 13s | +20° 57’ 16” | 9.05 |
|
Hercules | location_searching map | |
| 3 Juno | 10h 32m 23s | +10° 08’ 24” | 9.69 |
|
Leo | location_searching map | |
| 6 Hebe | 14h 34m 35s | +07° 26’ 25” | 9.82 | Virgo | location_searching map | ||
| 15 Eunomia | 00h 27m 27s | +11° 24’ 10” | 10.09 | Pisces | location_searching map | ||
| 12 Victoria | 12h 13m 42s | -11° 05’ 13” | 10.59 |
|
Virgo | location_searching map | |
| 7 Iris | 20h 43m 58s | -15° 30’ 28” | 10.75 |
|
Capricornus | location_searching map | |
| 8 Flora | 03h 34m 20s | +16° 25’ 09” | 10.84 | Taurus | location_searching map | ||
| 9 Metis | 06h 59m 46s | +27° 30’ 04” | 10.94 |
|
Gemini | location_searching map |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eta Aquariids | 6 May | 22h 30m | -01° | 50 | bright | 1P/Halley | map | |
| Lyrids | 22 Apr | 18h 06m | +34° | 18 | bright | C/1861 G1 (Thatcher) | map | |
| Pi Puppids | 23 Apr | 07h 17m | -45° | variable | bright | 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup | map | |