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Sun & Moon Today

JD 2461190  DoY 149  WoY 22
🔼04:31
🔽18:51

Ecl Long 68.3°
in Taurus

Full
Age 13.22 d
Phase 161.2°
Ecl Long 229.5°
in Libra

SSE

Observable comet count is 1957

Current exoplanet count is 6291

Current longitude II of the GRS is  90°

 

Today Monitor

 


Planet Oppositions


Saturn on 2025-09-03 13:41 UTC

Mars: January 16, 2025
Jupiter: January 10, 2026
Saturn: September 21, 2025
Uranus: November 21, 2025
Neptune: September 23, 2025

 

Greatest Elongation of Venus

Evening: August 15, 2026 at 45.9°E
Morning: January 3, 2027 at 47.0°W

 

Greatest Elongation of Mercury

Morning: December 7, 2025 at 20.7°W
Evening: February 19, 2026 at 18.1°E
Morning: April 3, 2026 at 27.8°W
Evening: June 15, 2026 at 24.5°E
Morning: August 2, 2026 at 19.5°W
Evening: October 12, 2026 at 25.2°E
Morning: November 20, 2026 at 19.6°W


 


Super Moons (full) 2026

January 3: 225,130 mi (362,312 km)
November 24: 224,170 mi (360,768 km)
December 24: 221,667 mi (356,740 km)

 

given for 00:00 UT

In Longitude (negative is western)

DateSizeAgeAnglePhase
13 Apr 202630.89'24.94-6.797°
14 Apr 202631.37'25.94-6.885°
15 Apr 202631.85'26.94-6.540°
10 May 202630.42'22.51-7.002°
11 May 202630.85'23.51-7.546°
12 May 202631.34'24.51-7.695°
13 May 202631.86'25.51-7.381°
14 May 202632.37'26.51-6.565°
22 May 202632.03'5.176.635°
23 May 202631.56'6.177.101°
24 May 202631.11'7.177.159°
25 May 202630.71'8.176.868°
07 Jun 202630.39'21.17-7.053°
08 Jun 202630.79'22.17-7.626°
09 Jun 202631.25'23.17-7.834°
10 Jun 202631.75'24.17-7.603°
11 Jun 202632.25'25.17-6.885°
19 Jun 202632.20'3.886.768°
20 Jun 202631.68'4.887.364°
21 Jun 202631.18'5.887.508°
22 Jun 202630.71'6.887.253°
23 Jun 202630.31'7.886.670°
05 Jul 202630.48'19.88-6.530°
06 Jul 202630.82'20.88-7.017°
07 Jul 202631.21'21.88-7.189°
08 Jul 202631.64'22.88-6.986°
18 Jul 202631.76'3.606.894°
19 Jul 202631.25'4.607.142°
20 Jul 202630.77'5.606.982°
21 Jul 202630.35'6.606.469°
19 Nov 202630.64'9.71-6.939°
20 Nov 202631.11'10.71-7.238°
21 Nov 202631.62'11.71-7.063°
01 Dec 202631.73'21.716.670°
02 Dec 202631.32'22.716.898°
03 Dec 202630.93'23.716.823°
04 Dec 202630.59'24.716.497°
16 Dec 202630.14'6.96-6.743°
17 Dec 202630.53'7.96-7.511°
18 Dec 202630.98'8.96-7.903°
19 Dec 202631.49'9.96-7.840°
20 Dec 202632.03'10.96-7.269°
29 Dec 202631.92'19.967.182°
30 Dec 202631.41'20.967.556°
31 Dec 202630.94'21.967.540°

 

In Latitude (negative is southern)

DateSizeAgeAnglePhase
06 Apr 202629.57'17.946.680°
07 Apr 202629.51'18.946.724°
08 Apr 202629.52'19.946.480°
20 Apr 202633.00'2.51-6.607°
21 Apr 202632.84'3.51-6.460°
03 May 202629.54'15.516.518°
04 May 202629.46'16.516.605°
05 May 202629.44'17.516.405°
17 May 202633.33'0.17-6.476°
18 May 202633.34'1.17-6.448°
30 May 202629.51'13.176.463°
31 May 202629.43'14.176.568°
13 Jun 202633.11'27.17-6.427°
14 Jun 202633.36'28.17-6.531°
26 Jun 202629.56'10.886.527°
27 Jun 202629.45'11.886.652°
28 Jun 202629.41'12.886.490°
10 Jul 202632.49'24.88-6.447°
11 Jul 202632.86'25.88-6.669°
12 Jul 202633.13'26.88-6.449°
23 Jul 202629.74'8.606.610°
24 Jul 202629.56'9.606.784°
25 Jul 202629.47'10.606.664°
06 Aug 202631.97'22.60-6.454°
07 Aug 202632.28'23.60-6.764°
08 Aug 202632.55'24.60-6.663°
19 Aug 202630.03'6.276.582°
20 Aug 202629.77'7.276.838°
21 Aug 202629.60'8.276.792°
22 Aug 202629.52'9.276.456°
03 Sep 202632.04'21.27-6.743°
04 Sep 202632.20'22.27-6.729°
16 Sep 202630.00'4.866.742°
17 Sep 202629.76'5.866.785°
18 Sep 202629.61'6.866.531°
30 Sep 202632.24'18.86-6.599°
01 Oct 202632.32'19.86-6.660°
13 Oct 202630.13'2.346.547°
14 Oct 202629.88'3.346.667°
15 Oct 202629.68'4.346.483°
27 Oct 202632.60'16.34-6.403°
28 Oct 202632.75'17.34-6.553°
09 Nov 202630.10'29.346.404°
10 Nov 202629.88'0.716.566°
11 Nov 202629.70'1.716.425°
24 Nov 202632.95'14.71-6.524°
06 Dec 202630.03'26.716.414°
07 Dec 202629.82'27.716.594°
08 Dec 202629.65'28.716.474°
21 Dec 202632.55'11.96-6.593°
22 Dec 202632.99'12.96-6.555°

Source: NASA/GSFC

 


Latest Mission Poster

Thanks to NASA's exquisite photo material.

Original PNG is 10k pixels wide.

 

Latest Deepsky Image

2026-04-26, C8, Uranus-C (IMX585), IR-Cut, 130 x 60 sec (2h10m)

 

Random Mini Poster

Horsehead Nebula

View all Mini Posters

 

Latest Planetary Image

2026-01-07, Celestron 8, Uranus-C, UV/IR-Cut filter

 

Latest Movie

2023-11-23, Celestron 8, Uranus-C, UV/IR-Cut filter, exposure duration 1h42m

 

Latest Constellation Image

2025-06-27, Nikon D5500, 50mm lens with LPR, at f/4, 154 x 60s, ISO1600

 

Latest Lunar Image

C8, IMX178, 1.6x Ortho barlow, IR642nm filter (Mar 26, 2026).

 

Latest Astro Poster

Samyang 135mm, Uranus-C, dual-band and LPR filters.

 

Latest Infographic

Celestron 8 XLT, Uranus-C, UV/IR filter

 

Latest Lunar Poster

Celestron 8 XLT, Uranus-C, UV/IR filter

 

Lunar Impressions Feb/Mar 2026

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Click to enlarge or show full screen

 


 

 

Source: apod.nasa.gov

Mirror: star.ucl.ac.uk

Latest STScI News Release

Sorry, currently unavailable.

Tonight's Sky

Has been moved to YouTube

 

Latest JWST News

JWST Picture of the Month

NASA Image of the Day

Astro Weather

 

 

All reviewed Sightron Binoculars

 

 

No, we are not on Facebook but proudly on AstroBin with Mille Gracie to the author Salvatore Iovene:


GoTo Astropical on AstroBin

 

If anybody is interested in the night life of bats, here is a funny 1-minute MP4 video (24MB).

 


Lunar Imaging e-brochure (PDF 96.4 MB)

 

EAA e-brochure (PDF 76.4 MB)
In work. Pre-release for feedbacks.

 

Planetary Imaging e-brochure (PDF 17.4 MB)
In work. Pre-release for feedbacks.

 


Recent

1. This web site is target of "Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)" attack intended by criminals to exhaust the resources of a hosting server. It is a high frequency random access to all web files in the site directory, a classic tactic, aiming to degrade or crash hosting infrastructure. This website is the entry point, but the real goal is to overwhelm the web server or shared hosting environment. Most of the attacking IP addresses originate in the PRC, either on purpose to blame China or it is real. My provider, Hostgator, does not seem to be interested in deeper investigation, instead suggesting the service of "Cloudflare". Even if the contents of the site isn't sensitive, the attack is criminal calling for harsh punishment. This attack also falsifies the visitor access log, wondering what this human garbage is trying to accomplish besides display of sick brains.

2. Certain people appear to enjoy filling forms with random letters for no purpose but insane self-satisfaction. Most of this stupid folks leave their IP addresses which are forwarded to their provider companies. All so received forms are automatically deleted. Sadly, the world is overfilled with idiots, trolls and criminals. This is a public web site without any sensitive data. No need for these irrational displays.

3. Now in the process of changing all large images to AVIF or WEBP format resulting in considerably reduced file size and download time hardly sacrificing quality as compared with JPEG.

 

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Major Site Updates

 


Deepsky Overview
My Humble Gallery
Lunar Imaging
FOV Simulator
Astro Cameras
Let's Astrophoto
Telescopes for AP

 


Total Exoplanet Count: 6291

Kepler/K2: 3333 planets
TESS: 895 planets
Latest exoplanet around:  
as of 2026-05-21

ConstellationSculptor
Distance38.07 parsec (124.20ly)
Magnitude16.37 vis.
Mass0.1698 xSun
Radius0.2056 xSun
Temperature3226°K
Known planet(s)2
View in Database | Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗

 


Acton Sky Portal Observatory 2
Anglo-Australian Telescope 34
Apache Point Observatory 2
Arecibo Observatory 3
Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) 1
Bohyunsan Optical Astronomical Observatory 26
Calar Alto Observatory 29
Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory 5
CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite (CHEOPS) 4
CoRoT 35
European Southern Observatory 3
European Space Agency (ESA) Gaia Satellite 14
Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory 6
Gemini Observatory 14
Haleakala Observatory 2
HATNet 67
HATSouth 73
Haute-Provence Observatory 69
Hubble Space Telescope 6
Infrared Survey Facility 1
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) 3
K2 549
KELT 10
KELT-North 7
KELT-South 4
Kepler 2784
Kitt Peak National Observatory 1
KMTNet 137
KOINet 1
La Silla Observatory 304
Large Binocular Telescope Observatory 3
Las Campanas Observatory 34
Leoncito Astronomical Complex 1
Lick Observatory 35
Lowell Observatory 2
Mauna Kea Observatory 8
McDonald Observatory 33
MEarth Project 2
MOA 33
Multiple Facilities 21
Multiple Observatories 353
NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) 1
Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) 22
OGLE 110
Okayama Astrophysical Observatory 36
Palomar Observatory 2
Paranal Observatory 38
Parkes Observatory 2
Qatar 10
Roque de los Muchachos Observatory 39
South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SAR 1
SPECULOOS Southern Observatory 2
Spitzer Space Telescope 4
Subaru Telescope 12
SuperWASP 122
SuperWASP-North 5
SuperWASP-South 32
Teide Observatory 1
The 2 (Two) Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) 1
Thueringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg 6
Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) 895
TrES 5
United Kingdom Infrared Telescope 2
University of Canterbury Mt John Observatory 1
Very Long Baseline Array 1
W. M. Keck Observatory 194
WASP-South 11
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) Sat 1
Winer Observatory 1
Xinglong Station 2
XO 6
Yunnan Astronomical Observatory 3
Zwicky Transient Facility 2


 

⎘

Next NEO Approach

 

⎘

Next Meteor Shower

Daytime Arietids
14 May - 24 Jun, Peak: 6/7
Radiant: Star Chart, Rating: medium

 

Random Objects

 

Markeb (49 Pi Hya) in Hya [HIP 68895]

Distance: 101 light-years, Magnitude: 3.25

Markeb is a slowly (2.55 km/s) rotating, orange hued evolving star, 2.45x more massive and over 13x larger than the Sun.

Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗

 

GJ 213 (Ross 47) in Orion

Distance: 19 light-years, Magnitude: 11.6

Ross 47 is a flare star of spectral type M4, and a BY Dra type variable with 35% the mass and 17% the size of the sun.

Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗

 

M96 (Galaxy) in Leo

Magnitude: 10.1

M96 is an intermediate spiral galaxy 66,000 light-years wide and is the brightest member of the Leo I group of galaxies. Variations in ultraviolet emission from the core suggest the presence of a supermassive black hole.

Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗

 

Hydrus (southern), area rank: 61

Located south of Achernar in Eridanus, this constellation depicts an equilateral triangle with its three principle 3rd-magnitude stars. Hydrus is an eye-catching evening constellation in the southern hemisphere of November. Created in the 16th century by astronomer Johann Bayer.

Star Chart

 

332P/Ikeya-Murakami

Discovered on November 3, 2010, comet 332P/Ikeya-Murakami is a short-period comet with period of 5.42 years. After the comet had undergone a major outburst in November 2010, it is now composed of component A and B with two different comas, envelopes and tails. The Hubble Space Telescope imaged a slow migration of building-size fragments over a three-day period in January 2016. The pieces broke off of the main nucleus in late 2015 as the icy, ancient comet approached the sun in its orbit. The sizes of all fragments range between 110 meters and 10 km.

 

 

Geographos (Asteroid)

Semi-major: 1.24553 AU, Size: 5.1 km

Discovered in 1951, and categorized as a Mars-crossing asteroid and a near-Earth object, 1620 Geographos is a 5.1 km wide body, composed of nickel-iron mixed with iron- and magnesium-silicates, and rotating within 5.2 hours.

 

 

Tethys (moon of Saturn)

Discovered in 1684, Tethys' density is 0.97 times that of liquid water, which suggests that Tethys is composed almost entirely of water ice plus a small amount of rock. Tethys has two prominent features, a giant impact crater (240 km wide Odysseus) and a great valley, Ithaca Chasma, running roughly from the north pole to the south pole, 100km wide.

 

 

WASP-53 c (in Cetus)

Mass: 16.35 xJup
SMA: 3.73 AU
Period: 2840 days
Distance: 201.338 parsec
Category: Cold Jovian
ESI: 0.12

Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗

 

Android Astronomy Apps

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Lunar Imaging App (free, no ads)

 

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3D Visualizations

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Earth

 

 

Dark Site in Morocco

Some say that the seeing is better only in space.

Click on the banner to visit the new website of SaharaSky, the first and currently only private observatory with Casbah-style *** hotel in North Africa.

 

The owner, Fritz, is a German with a life-long passion for astronomy. Then, as he felt in deep love with Morocco and its wonderful people, he built a self-contained hotel at the feet of the Sahara about 30 kilometers to the southeast of the town of Zagora entirely in the traditional southern Moroccan Casbah-style and equipped it, besides comfortable rooms, a restaurant, spa and sauna, with a rich portfolio of optical instruments and accessories for amateur astronomers.

Fritz chose the location extremely well, a truly dark site in absence of city and street lights, blessed with an average of 300 clear dry nights annually. The observatory atop the hotel building offers a 360 degrees panoramic view on 500 square meters.

Most guests are professional and amateur astronomers, but also people of all ages with affection for the fascination of the stars and the desert. From the hotel's wide roof terrace, everybody can enjoy the starry sky dominated by the arch of the Milky Way with bare eyes or with rental telescopes and cameras.

The heart and soul of SaharaSky's observatory is Patrick from Belgium, not only a senior professional astronomer, but also a talented animator and entertainer under the Saharan stars.

A stay at SaharaSky is not limited to the night sky. SaharaSky provides equipment for solar observation, but Fritz also organises desert excursions for several days, overnight or day-return treks in a 4x4 or on dromedar backs, plus guided tours to historically invaluable local sites, such as the Petroglyphs of Ait Ouazzik.

Owner and staff as a team speak Arabic, local Berber, English, French, German, Spanish and Dutch.

Scotty, lock on to the coordinates of SaharaSky and beam us over!


SaharaSky owns telescopes with apertures from 40 to 400mm, such as Takahashi APOs, each of which can be saddled on high precision GM2000 mounts featuring GPS, GoTo and accurate guiding for both, visual observation and photography.

 

 

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