Today's Highlights
- The Sun is in the constellation of Pisces. The Moon is in the constellation of Gemini and it is in Waxing Gibbous phase.
- Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is in the constellation of Pisces and its latest observed magnitude is 5.2. It should be barely visible to the naked eye, easily visible with the help of a small binocular.
- Comet C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS) is in the constellation of Aquila and its latest observed magnitude is 10.7. It should be visible with the help of a telescope having an aperture of 6 inches (150mm) or more.
- Comet 13P/Olbers is in the constellation of Aries and its latest observed magnitude is 11.5. It should be visible with the help of a telescope having an aperture of 8 inches (200mm) or more.
- The next close approach with a Near Earth Object (NEO) will happen with Asteroid (NEO) 2023 FN13 on Apr 14 2024 at 10:56 UTC (25 days 23 hours 37 minutes), at an approach distance of 1,272,862 kilometers, or 3.31 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 4.90 kilometers per second.
- Asteroid 3 Juno is at opposition, current elongation 160.5°
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 | 23h 56m 22s | -00° 23’ 38” | 1,927.2” | -26.75 | Pisces | location_searching map |
Moon | 07h 55m 29s | +25° 18’ 47” | 1,795.8” | -10.93 | Gemini | 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 | 22h 44m 25s | -09° 22’ 06” | 10.6” | -3.88 | Aquarius | location_searching map |
Jupiter | 02h 48m 52s | +15° 20’ 46” | 34.1” | -2.10 | Aries | location_searching map |
Mercury | 00h 57m 20s | +07° 34’ 45” | 6.4” | -0.78 | Pisces | location_searching map |
Saturn | 22h 55m 26s | -08° 39’ 00” | 15.1” | 1.03 | Aquarius | location_searching map |
Mars | 21h 58m 12s | -13° 38’ 07” | 4.4” | 1.28 | Capricornus | location_searching map |
Uranus | 03h 10m 05s | +17° 26’ 36” | 3.5” | 5.83 | Aries | location_searching map |
Neptune | 23h 51m 17s | -02° 16’ 05” | 2.2” | 7.83 | 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.
6.4”
10.6”
4.4”
34.1”
15.1”
3.5”
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 (239) 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 | 01h 11m 24s | +29° 34’ 40” | 5.2 | 5.98 | 0.0' | Pisces Psc | location_searching map | ||
C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS) | 18h 59m 27s | +10° 53’ 09” | 10.7 | 7.27 | 1.9' | Aquila Aql | location_searching map | ||
13P/Olbers | 03h 23m 40s | +10° 41’ 48” | 11.5 | 11.01 | 1.0' | Aries Ari | location_searching map | ||
62P/Tsuchinshan | 12h 20m 46s | +10° 19’ 57” | 11.8 | 13.31 | 3.2' | Virgo Vir | location_searching map | ||
C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) | 14h 50m 37s | -06° 10’ 56” | 12.3 | 12.96 | 1.2' | Libra Lib | location_searching map | ||
29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann | 08h 04m 19s | +21° 24’ 39” | 13.1 | 17.41 | 3.4' | Cancer Cnc | location_searching map | ||
C/2022 E2 (ATLAS) | 07h 10m 06s | +28° 43’ 56” | 13.6 | 13.75 | 1.8' | Gemini Gem | location_searching map | ||
144P/Kushida | 06h 31m 51s | +17° 32’ 10” | 13.7 | 15.24 | 1.3' | Gemini Gem | location_searching map | ||
C/2021 G2 (Atlas) | 12h 04m 21s | -37° 11’ 34” | 14.3 | 14.63 | 0.6' | Centaurus Cen | location_searching map | ||
C/2019 U5 (PANSTARRS) | 07h 44m 12s | -41° 36’ 14” | 14.5 | 15.19 | 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 | 05h 44m 54s | +24° 11’ 48” | 7.99 | Taurus | location_searching map | ||
1 Ceres | 18h 55m 47s | -23° 16’ 50” | 8.93 | Sagittarius | location_searching map | ||
3 Juno | 10h 42m 51s | +06° 53’ 48” | 8.96 | Leo | location_searching map | ||
2 Pallas | 16h 46m 28s | +13° 26’ 27” | 9.28 | Hercules | location_searching map | ||
15 Eunomia | 23h 28m 12s | +04° 13’ 14” | 9.96 | Pisces | location_searching map | ||
6 Hebe | 14h 53m 17s | +03° 20’ 45” | 10.25 | Virgo | location_searching map | ||
9 Metis | 06h 10m 02s | +28° 26’ 20” | 10.54 | Auriga | location_searching map | ||
349 Dembowska | 10h 36m 33s | +18° 33’ 37” | 10.66 | Leo | location_searching map | ||
12 Victoria | 12h 41m 16s | -15° 21’ 12” | 10.68 | Corvus | location_searching map | ||
8 Flora | 02h 23m 16s | +10° 30’ 36” | 10.82 | Cetus | 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 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gamma Normids | 14 Mar | 15h 54m | -50° | 6 | bright | map | ||