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Sun & Moon Today

JD 2460697  DoY 21  WoY 04
🔼06:47
🔽17:02

TWILIGHT
05:19~18:30
Ecl Long 301.6°
in Capricorn

Last quarter
Age 21.78 d
Phase 94.4°
Ecl Long 207.2°
in Virgo

SSE

Observable comet count is 1169

Current exoplanet count is 5819

Current longitude II of the GRS is  66°

 

Today Monitor

Planet Oppositions

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: January 10, 2025 at 47.2°E
Morning: June 1, 2025 at 45.9°W

 

Greatest Elongation of Mercury

Morning: December 25, 2024 at 22.0°W
Evening: March 8, 2025 at 18.2°E
Morning: April 21, 2025 at 27.4°W
Evening: July 4, 2025 at 25.9°E
Morning: August 19, 2025 at 18.6°W
Evening: October 29, 2025 at 23.9°E
Morning: December 7, 2025 at 20.7°W
Evening: Febrary 19, 2026 at 18.1°E



Comets to look out for:



Super Moons (full) 2025

Wednesday, 5 November
Friday, 5 December

 

given for 00:00 UT

In Longitude (negative is western)

DateSizeAgeAnglePhase
23 Feb 202530.61'24.48-6.502°
24 Feb 202531.06'25.48-6.683°
25 Feb 202531.54'26.48-6.463°
22 Mar 202530.16'21.97-6.602°
23 Mar 202530.54'22.97-7.220°
24 Mar 202531.00'23.97-7.497°
25 Mar 202531.50'24.97-7.380°
26 Mar 202532.03'25.97-6.841°
04 Apr 202531.86'5.546.674°
05 Apr 202531.40'6.547.159°
06 Apr 202530.97'7.547.233°
07 Apr 202530.58'8.546.935°
19 Apr 202530.14'20.54-6.609°
20 Apr 202530.49'21.54-7.247°
21 Apr 202530.91'22.54-7.602°
22 Apr 202531.38'23.54-7.618°
23 Apr 202531.89'24.54-7.248°
24 Apr 202532.39'25.54-6.459°
02 May 202532.05'4.196.908°
03 May 202531.53'5.197.524°
04 May 202531.04'6.197.652°
05 May 202530.59'7.197.335°
06 May 202530.21'8.196.642°
18 May 202530.56'20.19-6.624°
19 May 202530.92'21.19-6.950°
20 May 202531.32'22.19-7.010°
21 May 202531.75'23.19-6.758°
30 May 202532.13'2.876.436°
31 May 202531.63'3.877.137°
01 Jun 202531.12'4.877.336°
02 Jun 202530.65'5.877.064°
29 Jun 202531.11'3.566.528°
02 Oct 202530.80'10.17-6.602°
03 Oct 202531.28'11.17-6.712°
04 Oct 202531.79'12.17-6.413°
13 Oct 202532.01'21.176.426°
14 Oct 202531.60'22.177.017°
15 Oct 202531.20'23.177.219°
16 Oct 202530.83'24.177.068°
17 Oct 202530.51'25.176.617°
29 Oct 202530.28'7.48-6.622°
30 Oct 202530.70'8.48-7.213°
31 Oct 202531.18'9.48-7.461°
01 Nov 202531.71'10.48-7.298°
02 Nov 202532.24'11.48-6.672°
10 Nov 202532.23'19.487.097°
11 Nov 202531.72'20.487.804°
12 Nov 202531.23'21.488.024°
13 Nov 202530.78'22.487.808°
14 Nov 202530.39'23.487.230°
26 Nov 202530.27'5.72-6.459°
27 Nov 202530.63'6.72-7.095°
28 Nov 202531.05'7.72-7.447°
29 Nov 202531.52'8.72-7.439°
30 Nov 202532.02'9.72-7.008°
08 Dec 202532.44'17.726.680°
09 Dec 202531.91'18.727.561°
10 Dec 202531.38'19.727.916°
11 Dec 202530.87'20.727.788°
12 Dec 202530.43'21.727.247°
26 Dec 202531.06'5.93-6.615°
27 Dec 202531.43'6.93-6.624°

 

In Latitude (negative is southern)

DateSizeAgeAnglePhase
12 Jan 202531.85'12.07-6.565°
13 Jan 202531.60'13.07-6.448°
26 Jan 202530.57'26.076.621°
27 Jan 202530.96'27.076.622°
08 Feb 202531.60'9.48-6.682°
09 Feb 202531.36'10.48-6.624°
22 Feb 202530.21'23.486.703°
23 Feb 202530.61'24.486.800°
24 Feb 202531.06'25.486.559°
07 Mar 202531.74'6.97-6.762°
08 Mar 202531.39'7.97-6.766°
09 Mar 202531.05'8.97-6.404°
21 Mar 202529.85'20.976.665°
22 Mar 202530.16'21.976.852°
23 Mar 202530.54'22.976.721°
03 Apr 202532.33'4.54-6.682°
04 Apr 202531.86'5.54-6.784°
05 Apr 202531.40'6.54-6.493°
17 Apr 202529.65'18.546.506°
18 Apr 202529.86'19.546.754°
19 Apr 202530.14'20.546.698°
30 Apr 202532.98'2.19-6.438°
01 May 202532.55'3.19-6.675°
02 May 202532.05'4.19-6.485°
15 May 202529.78'17.196.605°
16 May 202529.99'18.196.587°
28 May 202532.97'0.87-6.528°
29 May 202532.60'1.87-6.460°
11 Jun 202529.82'14.876.526°
12 Jun 202530.02'15.876.530°
24 Jun 202532.85'27.87-6.457°
25 Jun 202532.68'28.87-6.502°
08 Jul 202529.84'12.566.561°
09 Jul 202530.07'13.566.600°
21 Jul 202532.45'25.56-6.493°
22 Jul 202532.38'26.56-6.624°
04 Aug 202529.76'10.206.646°
05 Aug 202529.99'11.206.748°
06 Aug 202530.28'12.206.541°
17 Aug 202532.23'23.20-6.553°
18 Aug 202532.11'24.20-6.755°
19 Aug 202531.94'25.20-6.550°
31 Aug 202529.61'7.756.661°
01 Sep 202529.78'8.756.848°
02 Sep 202530.05'9.756.733°
13 Sep 202532.46'20.75-6.508°
14 Sep 202532.22'21.75-6.794°
15 Sep 202531.95'22.75-6.665°
27 Sep 202529.47'5.176.540°
28 Sep 202529.56'6.176.805°
29 Sep 202529.74'7.176.779°
30 Sep 202530.01'8.176.453°
11 Oct 202532.77'19.17-6.687°
12 Oct 202532.41'20.17-6.652°
25 Oct 202529.42'3.486.651°
26 Oct 202529.52'4.486.681°
27 Oct 202529.69'5.486.423°
07 Nov 202533.37'16.48-6.472°
08 Nov 202533.10'17.48-6.565°
21 Nov 202529.39'0.726.513°
22 Nov 202529.46'1.726.567°
05 Dec 202533.44'14.72-6.511°
18 Dec 202529.42'27.726.502°
19 Dec 202529.48'28.726.570°

Source: NASA/GSFC

Lunar Calendar 2024

Lunar Libration Calendar 2024 (PDF 11.2 MB)

View table online

Lunar Libration Calendar 2023 (PDF 3.3 MB)

 

Latest Deepsky Image

2025-01-18, Samyang 135mm, Uranus-C (IMX585), LPR II filter

 

Latest 4K Poster

Cone Nebula and Dreyer's Nebula

 

Latest Planetary Image

2025-01-14, Celestron 8, Uranus-C, UV/IR-Cut filter

 

Latest Movie

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

 

Latest Constellation Image

D5500, 50mm lens at f2.8, LPF, 131 x 30s, ISO1600.

 

Latest Lunar Image

C8, ASI290MM, IR642 filter (Jan 08, 2024).

 

Latest Astro Poster

Celestron 8 x 0.63, D5500, no filters.

 

Lunar Impressions March 2024

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Click to enlarge or show full screen

 


 

Source: apod.nasa.gov

Latest STScI News Release

NASA's Hubble Traces Hidden History of Andromeda Galaxy

A portion of the Andromeda galaxy, a spiral galaxy, spreads across the width. It is tilted nearly edge-on to our line of sight. Dark, dusty filamentary clouds wrap around the outer half of the galaxy’s disk. At 2 o'clock, a smaller dwarf elliptical galaxy forms a fuzzy, yellow blob. Hubble's sharp vision distinguishes about 200 million stars within the full image.

January 16, 2025

A portion of the Andromeda galaxy, a spiral galaxy, spreads across the width. It is tilted nearly edge-on to our line of sight. Dark, dusty filamentary clouds wrap around the outer half of the galaxy’s disk. At 2 o'clock, a smaller dwarf elliptical galaxy forms a fuzzy, yellow blob. Hubble's sharp vision distinguishes about 200 million stars within the full image.

Source: stsci.edu/news

Tonight's Sky

Has been moved to YouTube

Latest JWST News

Webb watches carbon-rich dust shells form, expand in star system

Observations of Wolf-Rayet 140 (MIRI Images, annotated)

13 January 2025

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have identified two stars responsible for generating carbon-rich dust a mere 5000 light-years away in our own Milky Way galaxy. As the massive stars in Wolf-Rayet 140 swing past one another on their elongated orbits, their winds collide and produce the carbon-rich dust. For a few months every eight years, the stars form a new shell of dust that expands outward — and may eventually go on to become part of stars that form elsewhere in our galaxy.


Source: esawebb.org

JWST Picture of the Month


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Source: esawebb.org

NASA Image of the Day

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial is seen in the foreground with the Washington Monument in the background, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Washington. The memorial covers four acres and includes the Stone of Hope, a granite statue of civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. carved by sculptor Lei Yixin.

Click to enlarge or show full screen

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 16:48 GMT


Source: www.nasa.gov

 

 

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 100.5 MB)

 

EAA e-brochure (PDF 84.9 MB) In work. Pre-release for feedbacks.

 

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

 

 


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This 'once-view' will work for most pages, such as Planisphere, Deepsky Observer, Ephemerides and Today Monitor.

 


US, Virginia, Washington
US, California, Mountain View
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Last visit from: CZ 
on page globe_index.php using Android O/S.

Unique visitors today: 67 (since 0:00 UTC) from:
                                           

Newest flag:   Guernsey -- Welcome!
Total page views 10617 since 2025-01-01
from 108 different countries (excluding bots & idiots).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

 

Operating Systems

Windows: 6755
iPhone: 1369
Android: 986
Macintosh: 806
Linux: 514
Other: 96
iPad: 81
Unknown: 8
Chrome OS: 1
Playstation: 1

 

Most Visited

apscopes.php: 3492
index.php: 1468
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php_calendar.php: 198
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Site Updates

 


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

 

Total Exoplanet Count: 5819

Kepler/K2: 3325 planets
TESS: 595 planets
Latest exoplanet around:  
as of 2024-12-16

ConstellationLeo Minor
Distance14.92 parsec
Magnitude5.38 vis.
Mass0.97 xSun
Radius1.24 xSun
Temperature5610°K
Known planet(s)1
View in Database | Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗

 


Acton Sky Portal Observatory 2
Anglo-Australian Telescope 35
Apache Point Observatory 1
Arecibo Observatory 3
Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) 1
Bohyunsan Optical Astronomical Observatory 26
Calar Alto Observatory 20
Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory 5
CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite (CHEOPS) 3
CoRoT 35
European Southern Observatory 3
European Space Agency (ESA) Gaia Satellite 11
Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory 6
Gemini Observatory 10
Haleakala Observatory 2
HATNet 67
HATSouth 73
Haute-Provence Observatory 66
Hubble Space Telescope 6
Infrared Survey Facility 1
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) 1
K2 547
KELT 10
KELT-North 7
KELT-South 4
Kepler 2778
Kitt Peak National Observatory 1
KMTNet 101
KOINet 1
La Silla Observatory 286
Large Binocular Telescope Observatory 3
Las Campanas Observatory 29
Leoncito Astronomical Complex 1
Lick Observatory 36
Lowell Observatory 3
Mauna Kea Observatory 2
McDonald Observatory 31
MEarth Project 2
MOA 31
Multiple Facilities 18
Multiple Observatories 314
NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) 1
Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) 21
OGLE 106
Okayama Astrophysical Observatory 36
Palomar Observatory 2
Paranal Observatory 30
Parkes Observatory 2
Qatar 10
Roque de los Muchachos Observatory 35
South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SAR 1
SPECULOOS Southern Observatory 2
Spitzer Space Telescope 4
Subaru Telescope 11
SuperWASP 113
SuperWASP-North 5
SuperWASP-South 32
Teide Observatory 1
Thueringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg 8
Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) 595
TrES 5
United Kingdom Infrared Telescope 2
University of Canterbury Mt John Observatory 1
Very Long Baseline Array 1
W. M. Keck Observatory 189
WASP-South 11
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) Sat 1
Winer Observatory 1
Xinglong Station 2
XO 6
Yunnan Astronomical Observatory 3


 

⎘

Next NEO Approach

2017 BN92 on 2025-Jan-21 15:45 UTC at 4.6912 LD

 

⎘

Next Meteor Shower

Alpha Centaurids
28 Jan - 21 Feb, Peak: 2/8
Radiant: Star Chart, Rating: bright

 

⎘

Next ISS Passes

NOTE: You need to log in for correct data.

 

Random Objects

 

Sterope (21 Tau) in Tau [HIP 17579]

Distance: 387 light-years, Magnitude: 5.76

Sterope (or Asterope) is a double star separated by 0.047° and designated 21 Tauri (or Sterope I) and 22 Tauri (or Sterope II). 21 Tauri is a blue-white B-type main sequence dwarf with an apparent magnitude of +5.76, while 22 Tauri is a white A-type main sequence dwarf with an apparent magnitude of +6.43.

Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗

 

Groombridge 1618 (GJ 380) in Ursa Major

Distance: 16 light-years, Magnitude: 6.5

Groombridge 1618 is an orange-hued class-K (UV Ceti-type) flare star with an active chromosphere and star spots. It has a greater luminosity than most flare stars, which are typically red dwarfs, but is less active hinting on a somewhat youthful star.

Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗

 

M35 (Open Cluster) in Gemini

Magnitude: 5.1

Messier 35 or NGC 2168 is an 175 million years young open star cluster shining at magnitude 5.3 approximately 3000 ly away in Gemini. Dominated by young hot blue stars, this weakly bound cluster is scattered over 24 ly in space and 28’ apparent in the sky. Out of estimated 500 members, over 60 are multiple star systems, a few are variables. The central region has a density of 6.2 stars per cubic parsec.

Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗

 

Vulpecula (northern), area rank: 55

Located south of Cygnus, this constellation was created in the 17th century by astronomer Johannes Hevelius. Constellation pictures draw a fox biting a goose. At the forepaw of the "little fox" lies the famous "Dumbbell", a planetary nebula.

Star Chart

 

9P/Tempel 1

Discovered in 1867, short-periodic 9P/Tempel 1 has a 7.6 km wide nucleus and orbits the sun once in 5.52 years. Due to its current aphelion distance of 4.7 AU, comet Tempel's orbit changes under gravitaional pulls by Jupiter and the inner planets. The last major change occurred in 1881, when Jupiter stretched Tempel's period to 6.5 years. On July 4, 2005, NASA's Deep Impact probe deliberately dropped an impactor which left a 150 meters wide and 30 meters deep crater on Tempel's surface. On February 15, 2011, NASA's Stardust probe passed the comet at 181km distance and imaged the crater.

 

 

Hektor (Asteroid)

Semi-major: 5.22753 AU, Size: 370 km

Discovered on February 10 1907 by August Kopff, Hektor is the largest Jupiter trojan and a D-type asteroid, dark and reddish in colour. Hektor is one of the most elongated bodies of its size in the Solar System, being 370 x 200 km. On July 17th 2006, a 12-km-diameter moon of Hektor, S/2006 (624) 1, was detected with an orbit semi-major axis of 623.5 km and an orbit period of 2.9651 days. Hektor is the first known trojan with a satellite companion. Rotating once around its axis in 6.92 hours, the asteroid has a mean mass of 9.95x1018kg and a density of 1.63g/cm³.

 

 

Bianca (moon of Uranus)

Discovered in 1986 in Voyager 2 images, Bianca's surface probably consists of the dark, unprocessed, carbon-rich material found on the C-class of asteroids. Else not much is known about this moon of Uranus.

 

 

HD 208897 b (in Pegasus)

Mass: 1.194 xJup
SMA: 1.063 AU
Period: 358.27 days
Distance: 67.4872 parsec
Category: Hot Jovian
ESI: 0.15198

Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗

 

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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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