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Observable comet count is 1957
Current exoplanet count is 6298
Current longitude II of the GRS is 90°
Today Monitor
Mars: January 16, 2025
Jupiter: January 10, 2026
Saturn: September 21, 2025
Uranus: November 21, 2025
Neptune: September 23, 2025
Evening: August 15, 2026 at 45.9°E
Morning: January 3, 2027 at 47.0°W
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
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
| Date | Size | Age | Angle | Phase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Apr 2026 | 30.89' | 24.94 | -6.797° | ![]() |
| 14 Apr 2026 | 31.37' | 25.94 | -6.885° | ![]() |
| 15 Apr 2026 | 31.85' | 26.94 | -6.540° | ![]() |
| 10 May 2026 | 30.42' | 22.51 | -7.002° | ![]() |
| 11 May 2026 | 30.85' | 23.51 | -7.546° | ![]() |
| 12 May 2026 | 31.34' | 24.51 | -7.695° | ![]() |
| 13 May 2026 | 31.86' | 25.51 | -7.381° | ![]() |
| 14 May 2026 | 32.37' | 26.51 | -6.565° | ![]() |
| 22 May 2026 | 32.03' | 5.17 | 6.635° | ![]() |
| 23 May 2026 | 31.56' | 6.17 | 7.101° | ![]() |
| 24 May 2026 | 31.11' | 7.17 | 7.159° | ![]() |
| 25 May 2026 | 30.71' | 8.17 | 6.868° | ![]() |
| 07 Jun 2026 | 30.39' | 21.17 | -7.053° | ![]() |
| 08 Jun 2026 | 30.79' | 22.17 | -7.626° | ![]() |
| 09 Jun 2026 | 31.25' | 23.17 | -7.834° | ![]() |
| 10 Jun 2026 | 31.75' | 24.17 | -7.603° | ![]() |
| 11 Jun 2026 | 32.25' | 25.17 | -6.885° | ![]() |
| 19 Jun 2026 | 32.20' | 3.88 | 6.768° | ![]() |
| 20 Jun 2026 | 31.68' | 4.88 | 7.364° | ![]() |
| 21 Jun 2026 | 31.18' | 5.88 | 7.508° | ![]() |
| 22 Jun 2026 | 30.71' | 6.88 | 7.253° | ![]() |
| 23 Jun 2026 | 30.31' | 7.88 | 6.670° | ![]() |
| 05 Jul 2026 | 30.48' | 19.88 | -6.530° | ![]() |
| 06 Jul 2026 | 30.82' | 20.88 | -7.017° | ![]() |
| 07 Jul 2026 | 31.21' | 21.88 | -7.189° | ![]() |
| 08 Jul 2026 | 31.64' | 22.88 | -6.986° | ![]() |
| 18 Jul 2026 | 31.76' | 3.60 | 6.894° | ![]() |
| 19 Jul 2026 | 31.25' | 4.60 | 7.142° | ![]() |
| 20 Jul 2026 | 30.77' | 5.60 | 6.982° | ![]() |
| 21 Jul 2026 | 30.35' | 6.60 | 6.469° | ![]() |
| 19 Nov 2026 | 30.64' | 9.71 | -6.939° | ![]() |
| 20 Nov 2026 | 31.11' | 10.71 | -7.238° | ![]() |
| 21 Nov 2026 | 31.62' | 11.71 | -7.063° | ![]() |
| 01 Dec 2026 | 31.73' | 21.71 | 6.670° | ![]() |
| 02 Dec 2026 | 31.32' | 22.71 | 6.898° | ![]() |
| 03 Dec 2026 | 30.93' | 23.71 | 6.823° | ![]() |
| 04 Dec 2026 | 30.59' | 24.71 | 6.497° | ![]() |
| 16 Dec 2026 | 30.14' | 6.96 | -6.743° | ![]() |
| 17 Dec 2026 | 30.53' | 7.96 | -7.511° | ![]() |
| 18 Dec 2026 | 30.98' | 8.96 | -7.903° | ![]() |
| 19 Dec 2026 | 31.49' | 9.96 | -7.840° | ![]() |
| 20 Dec 2026 | 32.03' | 10.96 | -7.269° | ![]() |
| 29 Dec 2026 | 31.92' | 19.96 | 7.182° | ![]() |
| 30 Dec 2026 | 31.41' | 20.96 | 7.556° | ![]() |
| 31 Dec 2026 | 30.94' | 21.96 | 7.540° | ![]() |
| Date | Size | Age | Angle | Phase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 06 Apr 2026 | 29.57' | 17.94 | 6.680° | ![]() |
| 07 Apr 2026 | 29.51' | 18.94 | 6.724° | ![]() |
| 08 Apr 2026 | 29.52' | 19.94 | 6.480° | ![]() |
| 20 Apr 2026 | 33.00' | 2.51 | -6.607° | ![]() |
| 21 Apr 2026 | 32.84' | 3.51 | -6.460° | ![]() |
| 03 May 2026 | 29.54' | 15.51 | 6.518° | ![]() |
| 04 May 2026 | 29.46' | 16.51 | 6.605° | ![]() |
| 05 May 2026 | 29.44' | 17.51 | 6.405° | ![]() |
| 17 May 2026 | 33.33' | 0.17 | -6.476° | ![]() |
| 18 May 2026 | 33.34' | 1.17 | -6.448° | ![]() |
| 30 May 2026 | 29.51' | 13.17 | 6.463° | ![]() |
| 31 May 2026 | 29.43' | 14.17 | 6.568° | ![]() |
| 13 Jun 2026 | 33.11' | 27.17 | -6.427° | ![]() |
| 14 Jun 2026 | 33.36' | 28.17 | -6.531° | ![]() |
| 26 Jun 2026 | 29.56' | 10.88 | 6.527° | ![]() |
| 27 Jun 2026 | 29.45' | 11.88 | 6.652° | ![]() |
| 28 Jun 2026 | 29.41' | 12.88 | 6.490° | ![]() |
| 10 Jul 2026 | 32.49' | 24.88 | -6.447° | ![]() |
| 11 Jul 2026 | 32.86' | 25.88 | -6.669° | ![]() |
| 12 Jul 2026 | 33.13' | 26.88 | -6.449° | ![]() |
| 23 Jul 2026 | 29.74' | 8.60 | 6.610° | ![]() |
| 24 Jul 2026 | 29.56' | 9.60 | 6.784° | ![]() |
| 25 Jul 2026 | 29.47' | 10.60 | 6.664° | ![]() |
| 06 Aug 2026 | 31.97' | 22.60 | -6.454° | ![]() |
| 07 Aug 2026 | 32.28' | 23.60 | -6.764° | ![]() |
| 08 Aug 2026 | 32.55' | 24.60 | -6.663° | ![]() |
| 19 Aug 2026 | 30.03' | 6.27 | 6.582° | ![]() |
| 20 Aug 2026 | 29.77' | 7.27 | 6.838° | ![]() |
| 21 Aug 2026 | 29.60' | 8.27 | 6.792° | ![]() |
| 22 Aug 2026 | 29.52' | 9.27 | 6.456° | ![]() |
| 03 Sep 2026 | 32.04' | 21.27 | -6.743° | ![]() |
| 04 Sep 2026 | 32.20' | 22.27 | -6.729° | ![]() |
| 16 Sep 2026 | 30.00' | 4.86 | 6.742° | ![]() |
| 17 Sep 2026 | 29.76' | 5.86 | 6.785° | ![]() |
| 18 Sep 2026 | 29.61' | 6.86 | 6.531° | ![]() |
| 30 Sep 2026 | 32.24' | 18.86 | -6.599° | ![]() |
| 01 Oct 2026 | 32.32' | 19.86 | -6.660° | ![]() |
| 13 Oct 2026 | 30.13' | 2.34 | 6.547° | ![]() |
| 14 Oct 2026 | 29.88' | 3.34 | 6.667° | ![]() |
| 15 Oct 2026 | 29.68' | 4.34 | 6.483° | ![]() |
| 27 Oct 2026 | 32.60' | 16.34 | -6.403° | ![]() |
| 28 Oct 2026 | 32.75' | 17.34 | -6.553° | ![]() |
| 09 Nov 2026 | 30.10' | 29.34 | 6.404° | ![]() |
| 10 Nov 2026 | 29.88' | 0.71 | 6.566° | ![]() |
| 11 Nov 2026 | 29.70' | 1.71 | 6.425° | ![]() |
| 24 Nov 2026 | 32.95' | 14.71 | -6.524° | ![]() |
| 06 Dec 2026 | 30.03' | 26.71 | 6.414° | ![]() |
| 07 Dec 2026 | 29.82' | 27.71 | 6.594° | ![]() |
| 08 Dec 2026 | 29.65' | 28.71 | 6.474° | ![]() |
| 21 Dec 2026 | 32.55' | 11.96 | -6.593° | ![]() |
| 22 Dec 2026 | 32.99' | 12.96 | -6.555° | ![]() |
Source: NASA/GSFC
Source: apod.nasa.gov
Mirror: star.ucl.ac.uk
NASA’s Webb Reveals Stars Sparking to Life in Cosmic Celebration

July 02, 2026
FS Tau, a star-forming nebula. Clouds of transparent blue and purple gas and dust stretch from the center to the right. Several yellow and white protostars, some showing Webb’s eight-pronged diffraction pattern, are dispersed throughout the clouds. Orange wisps and filaments of gas extend from one of the protostars at the center toward the top left and bottom right corners. There are numerous, distant yellow and white galaxies strewn about the black background of space.
Source: stsci.edu/news
1 July 2026
An international team of astronomers have used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to watch the Jupiter-sized exoplanet WD 1856 b transit its host star, measuring the planet’s mass and temperature and even detecting its atmosphere. They found that the planet is significantly warmer than expected and determined how it most likely reached its very tight orbit around the star, a white dwarf. The results are our first window into the future of planets like Jupiter after the death of the Sun, billions of years into the future.
Source: esawebb.org
Image/illustration credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
2026-03-13 Exoplanets
On Feb 6, 2026, NASAs SPARCS Mission returned first images of an exoplanet, HD 71262, in both, near-UV and far-UV. SPARCS' mission is for monitoring flares and sunspot activity on low-mass stars about 30% to 70% the mass of the Sun which are likely to host rocky planets inside their habitable zones. Link to source 🔗
Image/illustration credit: astropical.space
2026-02-08 solar system
AR4366 stands out as the most active sunspot of early 2026, producing an extraordinary sequence of high‑energy flares and posing meaningful space‑weather risks as it faces Earth. Its behavior is characteristic of a highly unstable, rapidly evolving magnetic system capable of generating the strongest solar eruptions of the cycle. Ø71mm APO, IMX178 camera.
Backlog
No, we are not on Facebook but proudly on AstroBin with Mille Gracie to the author Salvatore Iovene:

If anybody is interested in the night life of bats, here is a funny 1-minute MP4 video (24MB).
The author's first steps into video editing. They are about Deepsky & Lunar imaging, Milky Way & Constellations, Solar System, Apollo Missions, Artemis II and LROC.
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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| Constellation | Camelopardalis |
| Distance | 7.72 parsec (25.19ly) |
| Magnitude | 12.37 vis. |
| Spectral type | M4 V |
| Mass | 0.262 xSun |
| Radius | 0.275 xSun |
| Temperature | 3340°K |
| Known planet(s) | 1 |
Piscis Austrinids
15 Jul - 10 Aug, Peak: 7/28
Radiant: Star Chart, Rating: faint
Alnilam (46 Eps Ori) in Ori [HIP 26311]
Distance: 1342 light-years, Magnitude: 1.69
Alnilam is the middle star in Orion's belt, a supergiant with strong stellar winds brightening the nearby molecular cloud NGC 1990 rendering it a reflection nebula.
Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗279 G. Sagittarii (GJ 783 A ) in Microscopium
Distance: 20 light-years, Magnitude: 5.3
Gliese 783 (279 G. Sagittarii) is a binary star system which is approaching the sun at a velocity of about 129 km/s. At this rate, it will be 6.7 light years away in 41,100 years, and ten times brighter than now. The A-B pair's masses are 65%/24% solar and measure 66%/28% the radius of the sun. The two stars are separated by a semi-major axis of 56.3 AUs.
Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗

M52 (Open Cluster) in Cassiopeia
Magnitude: 6.9
This 35 million years old cluster of stars has around 200 members and is a binocular object. The brightness of the cluster is influenced by extinction, which is stronger in the southern half.
Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗Cancer (northern), area rank: 31

Located west of Leo, this is one of the 12 zodiac constellations and the first constellation of spring. With its dim stars, it is hard to find. The open star cluster M44, Praesepe, in the carapace of the "crab" is a must-see with binoculars.
Star Chart273P/Pons-Gambart

Discovered on June 21, 1827 by Jean-Louis Pons and Jean-Félix Adolphe Gambart, it was lost and was not recovered until November 7, 2012, when amateur astronomer Rob Matson discovered a comet, and it was identified that the orbital calculations for Pons-Gambart were completely wrong. [Wikipedia]
Braille (Asteroid)
Semi-major: 2.34144 AU, Size: 2.1 km

Discovered in 1992, 9969 Braille is a small, 2.1 km wide Mars-crossing asteroid with a highly elliptical orbit with takes it halfway to Jupiter. On July 29, 1999 the spacecraft Deep Space 1 passed Braille at a distance of 26 km. Due to malfunction, images could be taken from a distance of no closer than 14,000 km.
Janus (moon of Saturn)

Discovered in 1966, Janus is an inner moon of Saturn, extensively cratered with several impacts larger than 30 km. Given its low density and high albedo, Janus is obviously a very porous and icy rubble pile 203x185x152.6 km in size. Janus has almost the same orbit as Epimetheus. Epimetheus and Janus may have formed by the break-up of one moon.
HAT-P-58 b (in Camelopardalis)
Mass: 0.372 xJup
Radius: 1.332 xJup
SMA: 0.04994 AU
Period: 4.01384 days
Distance: 515.59 parsec
Category: Hot Jovian
ESI: 0.06