Menu

Sky Digest

Monday, 16 February 2026 | Default Location
Showing the sky from Greenwich, London. Log in to use your own location.
Excel

Tonight at a Glance

New Moon 0%
Dark window: 18:22 – 05:37 (11 h 14 m)

Planet Highlights

Jupiter mag -2.6 · 61° alt · Gemini Details
GRS transit tonight:
Io Transit ends
Io Shadow transit begins
Io Shadow transit ends

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 northwest

Andromeda

Binocular Targets

U Ori
Variable Star
mag 5.4

At 21:00 look high in the southwest

Ori
M48
NGC 2548 Open Cluster
mag 5.5

At 21:00 look halfway up in the southeast

Hydra
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 2252
Open Cluster
mag 8.0

At 21:00 look halfway up in the south

Mon
Rosette Nebula
NGC 2237 Nebula
mag 6.0

At 21:00 look halfway up in the south

Monoceros
C7
NGC 2403 Galaxy
mag 8.4

At 21:00 look near the zenith

Camelopardalis
3 Gem
Variable Star
mag 5.8

At 21:00 look high in the south

Gem

Big Scopes (8–12 inch)

NGC 2259
Open Cluster
mag 11.0

At 21:00 look high in the south

Mon
NGC 2440
Planetary Nebula
mag 11.0

At 21:00 look low in the south

Pup
NGC 2146
Galaxy
mag 10.5

At 21:00 look high in the north

Cam
NGC 2336
Galaxy
mag 10.5

At 21:00 look high in the north

Cam
NGC 2207
Galaxy
mag 10.7

At 21:00 look low in the south

CMa

The Week Ahead

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
🌑 0% 🌑 0% 🌑 2% 🌒 6% 🌒 13% 🌒 21% 🌓 31%

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Unexplained Shocks Around a White Dwarf Star

How is RXJ0528+2838 creating such shock waves? A recently discovered white dwarf star, the farther left of the two largest white spots, RXJ0528+2838, was found 730 light-years away from Earth. Most stars, when done fusing nuclei in their cores for energy, become red giant stars, the cores of which live on as faint dense white dwarfs that slowly cool down for the rest of time. White dwarfs are so dense that the only thing that stops them from collapsing further is quantum mechanics. In about 5 billion years, our Sun will become a white dwarf, too. The featured image, obtained with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, shows unexplained bow shocks around RXJ0528+2838, similar to the bow wave of water around a fast-moving ship. Astronomers don’t yet know what is powering these shocks, which have existed for at least 1,000 years. The red, green and blue colors represent trace amounts of glowing hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen gas. Open Science: Browse 3,900+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library

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

View on NASA APOD

Space News

NASA Webb, Hubble Share Most Comprehensive View of Saturn to Date

NASA's James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes have jointly captured the most comprehensive view of Saturn to date, observing in complementary wavelengths to provide unprecedented understanding of the planet.

NASA — 25 Mar 2026

NASA-JAXA’s XRISM Telescope Clocks Hot Wind of Galaxy M82

The NASA-JAXA XRISM Telescope has directly measured the speed of superheated gas from the galaxy M82's core for the first time, advancing understanding of galactic-scale stellar activity.

NASA — 25 Mar 2026

Artemis II rolls again

The Artemis II rocket has rolled back to its launchpad at Kennedy Space Center, marking a major milestone in preparation for the crewed lunar mission.

ESA — 20 Mar 2026

Meet the Platypi: NASA’s Newest Astronaut Candidate Class

NASA's newest astronaut candidate class of ten explorers selected in 2025 is now training at Johnson Space Center for future ISS and lunar missions.

NASA — 19 Mar 2026

Explore the Three-Body Problem

Simulate chaotic gravitational dynamics with preset scenarios: circumbinary planets, Lagrange points, and the famous Figure-8 choreography. Switch between inertial and co-rotating frames.

Explore the Three-Body Problem Open Three-Body

Sign in to get this digest by email and customize it for your location.