Menu

Sky Digest

Friday, 6 March 2026 | Default Location
Showing the sky from Greenwich, London. Log in to use your own location.
Excel

Tonight at a Glance

Waning Gibbous 89%
Dark window: 18:57 – 05:02 (10 h 4 m)

Bright moon tonight — best deep-sky viewing before moonrise (21:44)

Aurora Forecast — Unlikely

Kp 6.7 / need 7 Bz -3.7 nT G1

Need Kp 7+ (currently 6.7). Watch for geomagnetic storm upgrades.

View full forecast

Planet Highlights

Jupiter mag -2.5 · 60° alt · Gemini Details
GRS transit tonight:

For Beginners (naked eye)

M44
Beehive Cluster or Praesepe Open Cluster
mag 3.7

At 21:00 look high in the south

Cancer
M42
Great Orion Nebula Nebula
mag 4.0

At 21:00 look halfway up in the southwest

Orion
NGC 2232
Open Cluster
mag 3.9

At 21:00 look halfway up in the southwest

Mon

Binocular Targets

R Leo
Variable Star
mag 6.0

At 21:00 look halfway up in the southeast

Leo
M47
NGC 2422 Open Cluster
mag 4.4

At 21:00 look low in the south

Puppis
M31
Andromeda Galaxy Galaxy
mag 3.4

At 21:00 look low in the northwest

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 south

Gem
C58
NGC 2360 Open Cluster
mag 7.2

At 21:00 look low in the south

Canis Major
NGC 6543
Planetary Nebula
mag 9.0

At 21:00 look halfway up in the north

Dra
M81
Bode's Galaxy Galaxy
mag 6.9

At 21:00 look high in the northeast

Ursa Major
R Cnc
Variable Star
mag 7.1

At 21:00 look high in the south

Cnc

Big Scopes (8–12 inch)

Z Cam
Variable Star
mag 10.0

At 21:00 look high in the north

Cam
NGC 2432
Open Cluster
mag 10.0

At 21:00 look low in the south

Pup
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
T Tau
Variable Star
mag 9.3

At 21:00 look halfway up in the west

Tau

The Week Ahead

Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu
🌖 89% 🌖 82% 🌖 74% 🌖 65% 🌖 55% 🌗 46% 🌗 36%

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

The Astrosphere of HD 61005

Do young stars blow bubbles? The larger view shows a stellar field observed with the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, and the inset highlights HD 61005, a star like our Sun, only 120 light-years away. Much younger than the Sun, at just about 100 million years old, it blows a fast and dense stellar wind that pushes out the cooler dust and gas that surrounds it, forming a bubble called an astrosphere. The star-blown bubble was detected with the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and it has a diameter roughly 200 times the Earth-Sun distance. Our Sun has a bubble too, called the heliosphere, which protects the planets from cosmic radiation. Also shown in the inset is debris left behind from star formation, observed by Hubble. The debris appears as wings, giving the star its nickname: the Moth.

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

View on NASA APOD

Space News

NASA Simulations Improve Artemis II Launch Environment

NASA used advanced simulations to optimize launch conditions for Artemis II, analyzing airflow dynamics critical to the crewed lunar test flight.

NASA — 20 Mar 2026

NASA’s X-59 Experimental Supersonic Aircraft Makes Second Flight

NASA's X-59 experimental supersonic aircraft completed its second flight, initiating a series of dozens of test flights planned for 2026.

NASA — 20 Mar 2026

How Open NASA Data on Comet 3I/ATLAS Will Power Tomorrow’s Discoveries

Multiple NASA science missions observed the rare interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS before it leaves our solar system, with observations archived for future research.

NASA — 20 Mar 2026

Meet the Platypi: NASA’s Newest Astronaut Candidate Class

NASA's newest astronaut candidate class of ten explorers is training at Johnson Space Center for future ISS, Moon, and Mars missions.

NASA — 19 Mar 2026

Watch Earth from Space

A 3D globe with real-time day/night terminator, ISS position tracking, aurora oval overlay, and city lights. See where the sun is shining — and where the stars are out.

Watch Earth from Space Open Earth

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