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Sky Digest

Monday, 23 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 42%
Dark window: 18:36 – 05:23 (10 h 47 m)

Aurora Forecast — Very unlikely

Kp 3.3 / need 7 Bz 3.9 nT

Geomagnetic activity far below the Kp 7 needed at your latitude.

View full forecast

Planet Highlights

Jupiter mag -2.5 · 61° alt · Gemini Details
GRS transit tonight:
Io Transit ends
Io Shadow transit begins
Io Shadow transit ends

Saturn-Neptune Conjunction

Separation: 1.0°

View on Star Map

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 near the zenith

Gem
M38
Starfish Cluster Open Cluster
mag 7.4

At 21:00 look high in the southwest

Auriga
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)

Z Cam
Variable Star
mag 10.0

At 21:00 look high in the north

Cam
NGC 2304
Open Cluster
mag 10.0

At 21:00 look high in the south

Gem
NGC 2438
Planetary Nebula
mag 10.0

At 21:00 look low in the south

Pup
M66
Leo Triplet Galaxy
mag 8.9

At 21:00 look halfway up in the east

Leo
M97
Owl Nebula Planetary Nebula
mag 9.9

At 21:00 look high in the northeast

Ursa Major

The Week Ahead

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
🌓 42% 🌔 54% 🌔 65% 🌔 75% 🌔 84% 🌔 92% 🌔 97%
Moon occults Kappa Gem

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Pleiades: The Seven Sisters Star Cluster

Have you ever seen the Pleiades star cluster? Even if you have, you probably have never seen it as large and clear as this. Perhaps the most famous star cluster on the sky, the bright stars of the Pleiades can be seen with the unaided eye even from the depths of a light-polluted city. With a long exposure from a dark location, though, the dust cloud surrounding the Pleiades star cluster becomes very evident. The featured 18-hour exposure, taken from Bory Tucholskie, Poland covers a sky area several times the size of the full moon. Also known as the Seven Sisters and M45, the Pleiades lies about 400 light years away toward the constellation of the Bull (Taurus). A common legend with a modern twist is that one of the brighter stars faded since the cluster was named, leaving only six of the sister stars visible to the unaided eye. The actual number of Pleiades stars visible, however, may be more or less than seven, depending on the darkness of the surrounding sky and the clarity of the observer's eyesight. Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (after 1995)

Image credit: Kamil Fiedosiuk — APOD is a service of NASA and Michigan Tech. U.

View on NASA APOD

Space News

Artemis II rolls again

Artemis II rocket rolled out to the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center, marking progress toward NASA's crewed lunar mission.

ESA — 20 Mar 2026

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

NASA will provide a water-detecting instrument for JAXA's Lunar Polar Exploration mission to hunt for ice at 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 X-ray observations of the 2,000-year-old supernova RCW 86, providing new insights into this ancient cosmic event.

NASA — 24 Mar 2026

Smiles and Spacesuits

NASA astronaut Chris Williams completed a spacesuit fit verification on the International Space Station to ensure proper function for future spacewalks and missions.

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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