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A Complete Guide to the Solar System and the Night Sky
FAQ
public Location: Greenwich, UK
Timezone: Europe/London
Sunrise: 4:55 
Transit: 13:04 
Sunset: 21:12
sunny   (Daytime)   What's Visible Now?

Solar System Object Locator

Use this form to visualize the position of Solar System objects at given date and time on an interactive sky map.

Today's Highlights

  • The Sun is in the constellation of Gemini. The Moon is in the constellation of Leo and it is in Waxing Crescent phase.
  • Comet 13P/Olbers is in the constellation of Ursa Major and its latest observed magnitude is 6.9. It should be visible with the help of a small binocular.
  • Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is in the constellation of Vela and its latest observed magnitude is 8.1. It should be visible with the help of a binocular with a 40-50mm aperture or a small telescope.
  • Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is in the constellation of Leo and its latest observed magnitude is 9.6. 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) 2024 MH1 on Jul 26 2024 at 08:41 UTC (15 days 13 hours 57 minutes), at an approach distance of 1,796,712 kilometers, or 4.67 lunar distances, and a relative speed of 5.81 kilometers per second.
  • Dwarf Planet 1 Ceres is at opposition, current elongation 171.1°
  • KBO 2014 MU69 (Ultima Thule) is at opposition, current elongation 174.9°

Popular Objects

A representation of Solar System objects popularity during the last 7 days, based on the number of visualizations.

The Solar System Today

Current positions of the major bodies of the Solar System and the brightest comets.

Animate view
Go to 3D Solar System Viewer for more advanced features

Sun and Moon Today

How the Sun and the Moon look like today.

Credit: NASA, SDO, and the HMI Science Team
Information about the Sun
Sun position in sky map
Phase: Waxing Crescent  Age: 4.36 days
Information about the Moon
Moon position in sky map
R.A. Decl. Apparent Diameter MagnitudeMag ConstellationConst Charts
radio_button_checked Sun 07h 20m 46s +22° 08’ 10” 1,887.5” -26.71 trending_flat Gemini location_searching map
radio_button_checked Moon 11h 03m 22s +07° 36’ 09” 1,778.4” -8.40 trending_up Leo map
radio_button_checkedAltitude ≥ 30°   radio_button_checked Altitude < 30°   radio_button_checked Below the horizon

The Planets Today

Current essential information about the planets. Click each planet to view full details.

Planet R.A. Decl. Apparent Diameter MagnitudeMag ConstellationConst Charts
radio_button_checked Venus 08h 03m 43s +21° 36’ 48” 9.8” -3.90 trending_flat Gemini location_searching map
radio_button_checked Jupiter 04h 33m 40s +21° 15’ 13” 33.3” -2.05 trending_flat Taurus location_searching map
radio_button_checked Mercury 09h 01m 51s +17° 56’ 36” 6.5” 0.02 trending_down Cancer location_searching map
radio_button_checked Saturn 23h 22m 39s -06° 13’ 15” 17.6” 0.86 trending_up Aquarius location_searching map
radio_button_checked Mars 03h 21m 41s +17° 35’ 44” 5.5” 1.08 trending_down Aries location_searching map
radio_button_checked Uranus 03h 34m 08s +18° 57’ 04” 3.5” 5.82 trending_flat Taurus location_searching map
radio_button_checked Neptune 00h 00m 27s -01° 21’ 09” 2.3” 7.73 trending_flat Pisces location_searching map
radio_button_checkedAltitude ≥ 30°   radio_button_checked Altitude < 30°   radio_button_checked Below the horizon

Jupiter

Current position of the 4 Galilean satellites of Jupiter. A section dedicated to Jupiter's moons is available, with more advanced features.

Current positions of Jupiter's Galilean moons

Saturn

Current inclination of the rings of Saturn and the positions of its major satellites. A section dedicated to Saturn's system is available, with more advanced features.

Current inclination of Saturn's rings and position of its major moons

Apparent Sizes

Comparison between the apparent size of the planets, measured in seconds of a degree, as they appear today.

Mercury
6.5”
Venus
9.8”
Mars
5.5”
Jupiter
33.3”
Saturn
17.6”
Uranus
3.5”
Neptune
2.3”

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

Brightest Comets

List of the brightest comets currently visible in the sky. An extensive list of 243 bright and interesting comets is available.

Comet R.A. Decl. Magnitude (Observed)Mag Obs Magnitude (Estimated)Mag Pred Coma DiameterComa Diam ConstellationConst Charts
radio_button_checked 13P/Olbers 09h 25m 50s +41° 31’ 29” 6.9 7.52 3.0' Ursa Major UMa location_searching map
radio_button_checked 12P/Pons-Brooks 08h 41m 19s -39° 59’ 35” 8.1 9.26 6.6' Vela Vel location_searching map
radio_button_checked C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) 11h 09m 04s +02° 14’ 55” 9.6 10.06 2.5' Leo Leo location_searching map
radio_button_checked C/2023 V4 (Camarasa-Duszanowicz) 09h 58m 38s +57° 32’ 57” 10.8 14.37 4.5' Ursa Major UMa location_searching map
radio_button_checked C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS) 19h 59m 58s +62° 49’ 56” 12.4 10.72 0.7' Draco Dra location_searching map
radio_button_checked 154P/Brewington 04h 33m 20s +33° 18’ 33” 13.8 15.91 1.2' Perseus Per location_searching map
radio_button_checked C/2021 G2 (Atlas) 12h 15m 16s -21° 13’ 38” 14.2 14.85 0.9' Corvus Crv location_searching map
radio_button_checked C/2020 V2 (ZTF) 00h 31m 34s -59° 23’ 17” 14.2 14.94 0.8' Tucana Tuc location_searching map
radio_button_checked 130P/McNaught-Hughes 01h 50m 00s +04° 39’ 46” 15.3 17.19 0.5' Pisces Psc location_searching map
radio_button_checked C/2019 T4 (ATLAS) 17h 18m 44s +32° 49’ 54” 15.4 17.23 1.1' Hercules Her location_searching map
radio_button_checkedAltitude ≥ 30°   radio_button_checked Altitude < 30°   radio_button_checked Below the horizon

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

List of the top 10 brightest asteroids visible tonight. Also check the full list of 78 tracked asteroids and dwarf planets.

Asteroid R.A. Decl. MagnitudeMag ConstellationConst Charts
radio_button_checked 1 Ceres 18h 59m 42s -29° 38’ 12” 7.36 Sagittarius location_searching map
radio_button_checked 4 Vesta 08h 48m 18s +20° 48’ 18” 8.26 Cancer location_searching map
radio_button_checked 7 Iris 21h 21m 08s -08° 23’ 49” 9.00 Aquarius location_searching map
radio_button_checked 2 Pallas 15h 54m 24s +23° 42’ 55” 9.55 Serpens location_searching map
radio_button_checked 15 Eunomia 03h 15m 12s +28° 11’ 21” 10.06 Aries location_searching map
radio_button_checked 16 Psyche 21h 22m 11s -13° 33’ 55” 10.28 Aquarius location_searching map
radio_button_checked 1036 Ganymed 19h 29m 42s +44° 35’ 31” 10.58 Cygnus location_searching map
radio_button_checked 8 Flora 06h 55m 59s +22° 04’ 29” 10.77 Gemini location_searching map
radio_button_checked 6 Hebe 14h 00m 44s +05° 25’ 46” 10.77 Virgo location_searching map
radio_button_checked 3 Juno 11h 29m 48s +07° 11’ 43” 10.88 Leo location_searching map
radio_button_checkedAltitude ≥ 30°   radio_button_checked Altitude < 30°   radio_button_checked Below the horizon

Active Meteor Showers

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 number an observer could see in real conditions depends on the actual intensity of the shower (which can be highly variable) and on the 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 Alpha Capricornids 30 Jul 20h 30m -10° 5 bright map
radio_button_checkedAltitude ≥ 30°   radio_button_checked Altitude < 30°   radio_button_checked Below the horizon