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Sky Digest

Saturday, 21 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

Waxing Crescent 21%
Dark window: 18:32 – 05:27 (10 h 55 m)

Aurora Forecast — Unlikely

Kp 5.3 / need 7 Bz 6.7 nT

Need Kp 7+ (currently 5.3). Watch for geomagnetic storm upgrades.

View full forecast

Planet Highlights

Jupiter mag -2.5 · 61° alt · Gemini Details
GRS transit tonight:
Io Shadow transit begins
Io Transit begins
Io Shadow transit ends
Io Transit ends
+2 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 2345
Open Cluster
mag 7.7

At 21:00 look halfway up in the south

CMa
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)

RX And
Variable Star
mag 10.2

At 21:00 look halfway up in the northwest

And
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
M65
Leo Triplet Galaxy
mag 9.3

At 21:00 look halfway up in the east

Leo
NGC 2336
Galaxy
mag 10.5

At 21:00 look high in the north

Cam

The Week Ahead

Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri
🌒 21% 🌓 31% 🌓 42% 🌔 54% 🌔 65% 🌔 75% 🌔 84%
Moon occults Kappa Gem

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Twilight with Moon and Planets

Only two days after the February New Moon's annular eclipse of the Sun, a slender lunar crescent poses near the western horizon in this wintry twilight skyscape. Its nightside faintly illuminated by earthshine, the young Moon is joined by three bright planets in the mostly clear, early evening skies above the village of Kirazli, Turkiye. Inner planet Venus appears closest to the horizon. Near the beginning of its 2026 performance as planet Earth's evening star, brilliant Venus is seen through the warm sunset glare near picture center. Straight above Venus, innermost planet Mercury is easy to spot as it stands remarkably high above the horizon even as the twilight sky is growing dark. Outer planet Saturn, most distant of the naked-eye planets, is found just left of the Moon's sunlit crescent.

Image credit: Tunc Tezel — APOD is a service of NASA and Michigan Tech. U.

View on NASA APOD

Space News

Artemis II rolls again

Artemis II rocket completes second rollout at Kennedy Space Center, advancing NASA's lunar return mission.

ESA — 20 Mar 2026

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

NASA provides water-detecting instrument for JAXA's Lunar Polar Exploration 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 provides new observations of RCW 86 supernova, advancing understanding of ancient cosmic events through X-ray polarimetry.

NASA — 24 Mar 2026

Meet the Platypi: NASA’s Newest Astronaut Candidate Class

NASA's newest astronaut candidate class of ten explorers selected in 2025 are 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

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