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Sky Digest

Monday, 2 February 2026 | Default Location
Showing the sky from Greenwich, London. Log in to use your own location.
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Tonight at a Glance

Waning Gibbous 99%
Dark window: 17:58 – 06:01 (12 h 3 m)

Bright moon tonight — deep-sky viewing will be limited

Planet Highlights

Jupiter mag -2.6 · 57° alt · Gemini Details
GRS transit tonight:

Comets

PANSTARRS mag 7.5 · 4° alt · Pegasus Details
bright 2.41 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
Blue Snowball
NGC 7662 Planetary Nebula
mag 9.0

At 21:00 look halfway up in the northwest

And
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
Eskimo Nebula
NGC 2392 Planetary Nebula
mag 9.2

At 21:00 look high in the southeast

Gemini
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

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
🌕 99% 🌖 96% 🌖 90% 🌖 83% 🌖 75% 🌖 66% 🌖 57%

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Orion: The Running Man Nebula

What part of Orion is this? Just north of the famous Orion Nebula is a picturesque star forming region in Orion's Sword that contains a lot of intricate dust -- some of which appears blue because it reflects the light of bright embedded stars. The region's popular name is the Running Man Nebula because, looked at from the right, part of the brown dust appears to be running legs. Cataloged as Sharpless 279, the reflection nebula is not only part of the constellation of Orion, but part of the greater Orion molecular cloud complex. Light from the Running Man's bright stars, including 42 Orionis, the bright star closest to the featured image center, is slowly destroying and reshaping the surrounding dust, which will likely be completely gone in about 10 million years. The nebula spans about 15 light years and lies about 1,500 light years away. Jigsaw Nebula: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day

Image credit: Robert G. Lyons (Robservatory) — 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 targeting April 1, 2026, with astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen preparing for their crewed lunar flyby mission.

NASA — 26 Mar 2026

NASA to Unveil Complete Roman Telescope, Host Media Briefing

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope completes construction and wraps up prelaunch testing, with a media briefing scheduled for April 21 to showcase this major new observatory before launch.

NASA — 26 Mar 2026

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

Hubble Space Telescope discovers the first-ever spin reversal of a small comet, demonstrating how volatile activity can dramatically affect the rotation and evolution of small solar system bodies.

NASA — 26 Mar 2026

NASA’s IXPE Gets Fresh Look at Supernova

NASA's IXPE mission captures a new observation of supernova RCW 86, combining X-ray polarimetry data with legacy observations to provide deeper insights into supernova physics.

NASA — 26 Mar 2026

Understand Your Telescope

See the light path through six telescope designs: refractor, Newtonian, SCT, Maksutov, RC, and Gregorian. Adjust aperture, focal length, and eyepiece to calculate magnification and field of view.

Understand Your Telescope Open Optics Simulator

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