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Sun & Moon Today

JD 2460666  DoY 356  WoY 51
🔼06:46
🔽16:37

TWILIGHT
05:16~18:08
Ecl Long 270.3°
in Sagittarius

Last quarter
Age 21.00 d
Phase 103.9°
Ecl Long 166.3°
in Leo

SSE

Observable comet count is 1178

Current exoplanet count is 5806

Current longitude II of the GRS is  62°

 

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




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

2024-12-02, Samyang 135mm, Uranus-C (IMX585), dual-band filter

 

Latest Planetary Image

2024-12-17, Celestron 8, Uranus-C, UV/IR-Cut filter

 

Latest Movie

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

 

Latest Wide Field Image

2024-08-26, Nikon D5500, Samyang 135mm with LPR, at f/2, 100 x 60s, ISO800

 

Latest Constellation Image

D5500, 50mm lens at f2.8, LPF, 34 x 60s, ISO1600.

 

Latest Lunar Image

C8, ASI290MM, IR642 filter (July 19, 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

Tonight's Sky

Has been moved to YouTube

Latest JWST News

Webb finds planet-forming discs lived longer in early Universe

NGC 346 with 10 circled sources

16 December 2024

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope just solved a conundrum by proving a controversial finding made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope more than 20 years ago.


Source: esawebb.org

JWST Picture of the Month

Close look at a local galaxy

https://cdn.esawebb.org/archives/images/thumb350x/potm2412a.jpg

18 December 2024
The galaxy filling the frame in this NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month is NGC 2566, a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Puppis. The image combines observations from two of Webb’s instruments, the Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI), to show off NGC 2566’s well-defined spiral arms, long central bar and delicate tracery of gas, dust and stars. At 76 million light-years away, NGC 2566 is considered a nearby galaxy, making it an excellent target for studying fine details like star clusters and gas clouds. The new Webb images of NGC 2566 were collected as part of an observing programme (#3707) dedicated to understanding the connections between stars, gas and dust in nearby star-forming galaxies. NGC 2566 is just one of the 55 galaxies in the local Universe examined by Webb for this programme. The mid-infrared wavelengths captured by MIRI highlight NGC 2566’s warm interstellar …


Source: esawebb.org

NASA Image of the Day

NASA’s Terra Satellite Captures 2015 Eclipse Shadow

During the morning of March 20, 2015, a total solar eclipse was visible from parts of Europe, and a partial solar eclipse from northern Africa and northern Asia. NASA's Terra satellite passed over the Arctic Ocean on March 20 at 10:45 UTC (6:45 a.m. EDT) and captured the eclipse's shadow over the clouds in the Arctic Ocean.

Click to enlarge or show full screen

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 19:34 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 89.5 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, Ohio, Dublin

Last visit from: US 
on page hipparcos.php using iPhone O/S.

Unique visitors today: 127 (since 0:00 UTC) from:
                                                                       

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Total page views 19465 since 2024-12-01
from 109 different countries (excluding bots & idiots).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

 

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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: 5806

Kepler/K2: 3325 planets
TESS: 589 planets
Latest exoplanet around:  
as of 2024-12-10

ConstellationTaurus
Distance159.24 parsec
Magnitude15.64 vis.
Mass0.7 xSun
Radius1.45 xSun
Temperature4080°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 65
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 96
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 313
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) 589
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

2024 XN15 on 2024-Dec-21 09:08 UTC at 9.8418 LD

 

⎘

Next Meteor Shower

Ursids
17 Dec - 26 Dec, Peak: 12/22
Radiant: Star Chart, Rating: medium

 

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Next ISS Passes

NOTE: You need to log in for correct data.

 

Random Objects

 

Menkent (5 The Cen) in Cen [HIP 68933]

Distance: 61 light-years, Magnitude: 2.06

Alpha Ceti, or Menkar (Arabic for nose of the whale), or Menkab is a red giant expanding to 90 times the Sun's size. Having exhausted its helium, the star is now burning its carbon core, while becoming highly unstable. In its next phase, Menkar will shed its outer layers forming a planetary nebula, leaving a large white dwarf remnant.

Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗

 

GJ 411 (Lalande 21185) in Ursa Major

Distance: 8 light-years, Magnitude: 7.4

Lalande 21185 is a type-M red dwarf main sequence star with about 46% solar masses and 3383°K cool, emitting most of its energy as infrared radiation. The proportion of elements other than hydrogen and helium is estimated based on the ratio of iron to hydrogen in the star when compared to the Sun, indicating that the proportion of iron is about 63% of the Sun. Lalande 21185 is also listed as a BY Draconis type variable star in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars, designated NSV 18593.

Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗

 

M75 (Globular Cluster) in Sagittarius

Magnitude: 8.5

M75 is one of the most remote of of all globular clusters, positioned 67,500 light-years beyond the Milky Way's galactic center. Spanning 180 light-years across, it blazes with the brightness of 180,000 suns.

Star Chart | DSS IR Image 🔗

 

Ursa Major (northern), area rank: 3

Characterized by the seven stars that form the Big Dipper. Taking this for the tail and connecting a number of faint stars below, the constellation of the "bear" becomes apparent. Five of the Big Dipper stars are actually near each other in space and were likely formed at nearly the same time. Connecting two stars in the far part of the Big Dipper (Merak and Dubhe) will lead one to Polaris, the North Star, which is part of the Little Dipper. Relative stellar motions will cause the Big Dipper to slowly change its apparent configuration over the next 100,000 years. Likewise well known is the binary pair Mizar and Alcor.

Star Chart

 

103P/Hartley 2 (2010)

Comet Hartley 2 is a small periodic comet with an orbital period of 6.47 years. It was discovered by Malcolm Hartley in 1986 at the Schmidt Telescope Unit, Siding Spring Observatory, Australia. Its diameter is estimated to be 1.2 to 1.6 km while its mass is estimated to be about 300 megatons. The comet was the target of a flyby of the Deep Impact spacecraft, as part of the EPOXI mission, on 4 November 2010, which was able to approach within 700 km as part of its extended mission. As of November 2010 Hartley 2 is the smallest comet which has been visited.

 

 

Ikufumi (Asteroid)

Semi-major: 2.30240 AU, Size: 0 km

Discovered 1990 Sept. 27 by T. Urata at the Nihondaira Observatory. Named in honor of Ikufumi Makino (born 1944), a telecommunications systems engineer and active amateur astronomer. His extensive knowledge of computer technologies has enabled him to contribute to astronomical magazines many articles about systems for making observations. He has played an important role in introducing and spreading the data-reduction tool Astrometrica in Japan. He is a collaborating member of the Nihondaira Observatory.

 

 

Methone (moon of Saturn)

Discovered in 2004, Methone, orbiting between Mimas and Enceladus. is an egg-shaped moonlet with a remarkably smooth surface and no visible craters.

 

 

GJ 682 b (in Scorpius)

Mass: 0.01384 xJup
SMA: 0.08 AU
Period: 17.478 days
Distance: 5.00671 parsec
Category: Warm Superterran
ESI: 0.567606

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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