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Friday, 30 January 2026 | Default Location
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Tonight at a Glance

Waxing Gibbous 94%
Dark window: 17:53 – 06:06 (12 h 13 m)

Bright moon tonight — deep-sky viewing will be limited

Planet Highlights

Jupiter mag -2.6 · 56° alt · Gemini Details
GRS transit tonight:
Io Occultation begins
Io Occultation ends

Comets

PANSTARRS mag 7.3 · 6° alt · Pegasus Details
bright 2.40 AU Perihelion: Apr 19 (in 23d)

For Beginners (naked eye)

Hyades
Open Cluster
mag 0.5

At 21:00 look high in the southwest

Taurus
M42
Great Orion Nebula Nebula
mag 4.0

At 21:00 look halfway up in the south

Orion
NGC 2232
Open Cluster
mag 3.9

At 21:00 look halfway up in the south

Mon

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 south

Gemini
M31
Andromeda Galaxy Galaxy
mag 3.4

At 21:00 look halfway up in the west

Andromeda

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
M38
Starfish Cluster Open Cluster
mag 7.4

At 21:00 look near the zenith

Auriga
M43
De Mairan's Nebula Nebula
mag 9.0

At 21:00 look halfway up in the south

Orion
M81
Bode's Galaxy Galaxy
mag 6.9

At 21:00 look high in the northeast

Ursa Major
3 Gem
Variable Star
mag 5.8

At 21:00 look high in the south

Gem

Big Scopes (8–12 inch)

T Tau
Variable Star
mag 9.3

At 21:00 look high in the southwest

Tau
NGC 2141
Open Cluster
mag 9.4

At 21:00 look high in the south

Ori
M97
Owl Nebula Planetary Nebula
mag 9.9

At 21:00 look halfway up in the northeast

Ursa Major
NGC 1964
Galaxy
mag 10.8

At 21:00 look low in the south

Lep
Z Cam
Variable Star
mag 10.0

At 21:00 look high in the northeast

Cam

The Week Ahead

Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu
🌔 94% 🌕 98% 🌕 100% 🌕 99% 🌖 96% 🌖 90% 🌖 83%

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus

NGC 1333 is seen in visible light as a reflection nebula, dominated by bluish hues characteristic of starlight reflected by interstellar dust. A mere 1,000 light-years distant toward the heroic constellation Perseus, it lies at the edge of a large, star-forming molecular cloud. This telescopic close-up spans over two full moons on the sky or just over 15 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 1333. It shows details of the dusty region along with telltale hints of contrasty red emission from Herbig-Haro objects, jets and shocked glowing gas emanating from recently formed stars. In fact, NGC 1333 contains hundreds of stars less than a million years old, most still hidden from optical telescopes by the pervasive stardust. The chaotic environment may be similar to one in which our own Sun formed over 4.5 billion years ago.

Image credit: Robert Eder — APOD is a service of NASA and Michigan Tech. U.

View on NASA APOD

Space News

NASA Releases Artemis II Moon Mission Launch Countdown

NASA releases Artemis II Moon mission launch countdown with target launch date of no earlier than April 1, 2026, marking the first crewed lunar mission in over 50 years with four astronauts including Canadian Space Agency participation.

NASA — 26 Mar 2026

NASA to Unveil Complete Roman Telescope, Host Media Briefing

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope completes construction and wrapping up prelaunch testing, with media viewing opportunity scheduled for April 21 at Goddard Space Flight Center.

NASA — 26 Mar 2026

NASA’s Hubble Detects First-Ever Spin Reversal of Tiny Comet

Hubble Space Telescope detects first-ever spin reversal of a small comet, providing new insights into how volatile activity affects the physical evolution of bodies in the solar system.

NASA — 26 Mar 2026

Curiosity Blog, Sols 4838-4844: Wrapping Up the Boxwork Terrain

NASA's Curiosity rover concludes intense week of science observations while wrapping up monthslong investigation of the Boxwork terrain on Mars.

NASA — 26 Mar 2026

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