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Sky Digest

Thursday, 19 February 2026 | Default Location
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Tonight at a Glance

Waxing Crescent 6%
Dark window: 18:28 – 05:31 (11 h 3 m)

Planet Highlights

Jupiter mag -2.5 · 61° alt · Gemini Details
GRS transit tonight:
Europa Occultation begins
Europa Occultation ends
Io Shadow transit begins
Io Transit begins
+1 more — Details

For Beginners (naked eye)

M47
NGC 2422 Open Cluster
mag 4.4

At 21:00 look low in the south

Puppis
M42
Great Orion Nebula Nebula
mag 4.0

At 21:00 look halfway up in the southwest

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 south

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 south

Gem
NGC 2252
Open Cluster
mag 8.0

At 21:00 look halfway up in the south

Mon
Eskimo Nebula
NGC 2392 Planetary Nebula
mag 9.2

At 21:00 look high in the south

Gemini
C7
NGC 2403 Galaxy
mag 8.4

At 21:00 look near the zenith

Camelopardalis
HIP 35210
Double Star
mag 4.8

At 21:00 look low in the south

CMa

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 2336
Galaxy
mag 10.5

At 21:00 look high in the north

Cam
NGC 2146
Galaxy
mag 10.5

At 21:00 look high in the north

Cam
NGC 2683
Galaxy
mag 9.7

At 21:00 look high in the southeast

Lyn

The Week Ahead

Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed
🌒 6% 🌒 13% 🌒 21% 🌓 31% 🌓 42% 🌔 54% 🌔 65%

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

IC 2574: Coddington's Nebula

Grand spiral galaxies often seem to get all the glory, flaunting their young, bright, blue star clusters in beautiful, symmetric spiral arms. But small, irregular galaxies form stars too. In fact, dwarf galaxy IC 2574 shows clear evidence of intense star forming activity in its telltale reddish regions of glowing hydrogen gas. Just as in spiral galaxies, the turbulent star-forming regions in IC 2574 are churned by stellar winds and supernova explosions spewing material into the galaxy's interstellar medium and triggering further star formation. A mere 12 million light-years distant, IC 2574 is part of the M81 group of galaxies, seen toward the northern constellation Ursa Major. Also known as Coddington's Nebula, the faint but intriguing island universe is about 50,000 light-years across, discovered by American astronomer Edwin Coddington in 1898.

Image credit: Dane Vetter — APOD is a service of NASA and Michigan Tech. U.

View on NASA APOD

Space News

Artemis II rolls again

Artemis II rocket completed its second rollout to the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center, advancing NASA's lunar return mission toward launch.

ESA — 20 Mar 2026

NASA’s Water-Hunting Tool Will Help Scout Moon’s South Pole

NASA is providing a water-detecting instrument to Japan's LUPEX mission to hunt for ice on the Moon's south pole in support of future human exploration.

NASA — 24 Mar 2026

NASA X-Ray Mission Gets Fresh Look at 2,000-Year-Old Supernova

NASA's IXPE mission obtained new observations of the 2,000-year-old supernova RCW 86, providing fresh insights into stellar explosions.

NASA — 24 Mar 2026

Smiles and Spacesuits

NASA astronaut Chris Williams completed spacesuit fit verification on the International Space Station, ensuring equipment readiness for future spacewalks.

NASA — 20 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

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