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Saturday, 24 January 2026 | Default Location
Showing the sky from Greenwich, London. Log in to use your own location.
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Tonight at a Glance

Waxing Crescent 35%
Dark window: 17:44 – 06:15 (12 h 31 m)

Aurora Forecast — Very unlikely

Kp 3.3 / need 7 Bz 0.5 nT

Geomagnetic activity far below the Kp 7 needed at your latitude.

View full forecast

Planet Highlights

Jupiter mag -2.7 · 53° alt · Gemini Details
GRS transit tonight:
Io Transit ends
Io Shadow transit begins
Io Shadow transit ends
Ganymede Transit begins
+1 more — Details

Comets

PANSTARRS mag 7.0 · 10° alt · Pegasus Details
bright 2.29 AU Perihelion: Apr 19 (in 21d)

For Beginners (naked eye)

M41
Little Beehive Cluster Open Cluster
mag 4.5

At 21:00 look low in the south

Canis Major
M42
Great Orion Nebula Nebula
mag 4.0

At 21:00 look halfway up in the south

Orion
M31
Andromeda Galaxy Galaxy
mag 3.4

At 21:00 look halfway up in the west

Andromeda

Binocular Targets

U Ori
Variable Star
mag 5.4

At 21:00 look high in the south

Ori
M35
Shoe-Buckle Cluster Open Cluster
mag 5.3

At 21:00 look high in the southeast

Gemini
M81
Bode's Galaxy Galaxy
mag 6.9

At 21:00 look high in the northeast

Ursa Major

Small Scopes (3–6 inch)

Castor
HIP 36850; Alpha Gem; 66 Gem Double Star
mag 2.0

At 21:00 look high in the southeast

Gem
NGC 1817
Open Cluster
mag 7.7

At 21:00 look high in the south

Tau
M43
De Mairan's Nebula Nebula
mag 9.0

At 21:00 look halfway up in the south

Orion
M101
Pinwheel Galaxy Galaxy
mag 7.9

At 21:00 look low in the northeast

Ursa Major
3 Gem
Variable Star
mag 5.8

At 21:00 look high in the southeast

Gem

Big Scopes (8–12 inch)

NGC 1605
Open Cluster
mag 10.7

At 21:00 look near the zenith

Per
Flaming Star Nebula
IC 405 Nebula
mag 10.0

At 21:00 look near the zenith

Auriga
C5
IC 342 Galaxy
mag 9.2

At 21:00 look near the zenith

Camelopardalis
NGC 1514
Planetary Nebula
mag 10.0

At 21:00 look high in the southwest

Tau
NGC 1964
Galaxy
mag 10.8

At 21:00 look low in the south

Lep

The Week Ahead

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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Earthset from Orion

ght billion people are about to disappear in this snapshot from space taken on 2022 November 21. On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, their home world is setting behind the Moon's bright edge as viewed by an external camera on the outbound Orion spacecraft. Orion was headed for a powered flyby that took it to within 130 kilometers of the lunar surface. Velocity gained in the flyby maneuver was used to reach a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon. That orbit is considered distant because it's another 92,000 kilometers beyond the Moon, and retrograde because the spacecraft orbited in the opposite direction of the Moon's orbit around planet Earth. Swinging around the Moon, Orion reached a maximum distance (just over 400,000 kilometers) from Earth on 2022 November 28, exceeding a record set by Apollo 13 for most distant spacecraft designed for human space exploration. The Artemis II mission, carrying 4 astronauts around the moon and back again, is due to launch as early as February 6.

APOD is a service of NASA and Michigan Tech. U.

View on NASA APOD

Space News

NASA Selects Intuitive Machines to Deliver Artemis Science, Tech to Moon

NASA awarded Intuitive Machines $180.4 million to deliver seven science payloads to the lunar surface as part of the CLPS initiative supporting the Artemis program.

NASA — 27 Mar 2026

NASA Names Scientists to Support Lunar South Pole Science

NASA selected 10 scientists to develop the lunar surface science plan for Artemis astronauts, including instrument deployment and sample collection at the lunar south pole.

NASA — 27 Mar 2026

NASA Releases Artemis II Moon Mission Launch Countdown

NASA released the launch countdown schedule for Artemis II, targeting no earlier than April 1, 2026, to send four astronauts on a 10-day mission around the Moon.

NASA — 26 Mar 2026

How Europe will power the journey to the Moon and back

Europe's Service Module will provide critical propulsion, power, and life support systems for the Artemis II crewed mission around the Moon.

ESA — 27 Mar 2026

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