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Welcome to the night sky report for May 2026 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. This month, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower brings shooting stars before dawn, the Moon meets brilliant Venus after sunset, and May wraps up with a rare Blue Moon, meaning it is the second full moon in a single calendar month (but it will not actually look blue). In May, we are looking away from the crowded, dusty plane of our own galaxy toward a region where the sky is brimming with distant galaxies. Locate Virgo to find a concentration of roughly 2000 galaxies and search for Coma Berenices to identify many more. Coma Berenices is a great target for binoculars. Look for galaxies like M104 (Sombrero Galaxy), M87 (Virgo A Galaxy), and M64 (Black Eye Galaxy). The night sky is truly a celestial showcase. Get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

Welcome to the night sky report for April 2026 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. This April, Mercury shines extra bright, the Lyrid meteor shower peaks, and Comet C/2025 R3 soars into view. Then hunt for the ancient ball of stars known as globular cluster M3 (NGC 5272). The night sky is truly a celestial showcase. Get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

Welcome to the night sky report for March 2026 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. During March, look for the constellations Gemini and Cancer to spot interesting celestial features like star clusters M35, the Beehive Cluster (M44), and NGC 3923 -- an oblong elliptical galaxy with an interesting ripple pattern. Find the Y-shaped constellation Taurus the bull, high in the southwest. The Hyades star cluster forms the bull's face. The night sky is truly a celestial showcase. Get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

Welcome to the night sky report for February 2026 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. Special note: The Moon could have human visitors for the first time since 1972 this month. NASA's Artemis II manned mission has its first opportunity to launch to the moon on February 8th. Four astronauts will travel beyond Earth’s orbit and fly around the Moon on Artemis II, a mission that will test NASA’s systems and hardware for human exploration of deep space. The approximately 10-day mission will test the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft, named Integrity. For this month’s observing, the Winter Triangle is your guide to the night sky. The northern hemisphere is treated to views of the stars Procyon, Sirius, and Betelgeuse, as well as awe-inspiring views of the Great Orion Nebula (M42, NGC 1976), sculpted by the stellar winds of its central bright stars. The night sky is truly a celestial showcase. Get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

Happy New Year and welcome to the night sky report for January 2026 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. This month, Jupiter is at its biggest and brightest all year and the Moon and Saturn pair up in a conjunction. The January sky is also filled with bright stars in the constellations Orion, Taurus, Gemini, Canis Major, and Canis Minor. Find these cosmic gems by looking toward the southeast in the first few hours after it gets dark. The northern hemisphere also features beautiful views of Capella - a pair of giant yellow stars, Aldebaran - a red giant star, and three star clusters [the Hyades (Caldwell 41), the Pleiades (M45), and the Praesepe (M44, NGC 2632, also known as the Beehive Cluster)]. The night sky is truly a celestial showcase. Get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

Welcome to the night sky report for December 2025 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. During the month, Comet 3I/ATLAS makes its closest approach to Earth, the Geminid meteor shower sparkles across the sky, and the Moon and Jupiter get close for a conjunction. Step outside on a cold December night when the stars shine bright to find the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, and Cepheus. They will help you locate a binary star system (Eta Cassiopeiae), a fan-shaped open star cluster M103 (NGC 581), and a variable star (Mu Cephei). Also, throughout the month, you can find Pegasus, the winged stallion, high overhead in the south. The night sky is truly a celestial showcase. Get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

Welcome to the night sky report for November 2025 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus are visible during the month. Venus and Mars are no longer visible as they are very low in the sky after sunset. Also this month, hunt for the fainter constellations of fall, including Pisces, Aries, and Triangulum. They will guide you to several galaxies, including the spiral galaxies M74 (NGC 628, the Phantom Galaxy) and M33 (NGC 598, the Triangulum Galaxy). The night sky is truly a celestial showcase. Get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

Welcome to the night sky report for October 2025 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. During October, a supermoon takes over the sky, the Draconid meteor shower peeks through, and the Orionid meteor shower shines bright. The crisp, clear October nights are also full of celestial showpieces for the deep sky gazer. For example, find Pegasus the flying horse of Greek mythology to pinpoint nice dense globular clusters and galaxies. The night sky is truly a celestial showcase, so get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

Welcome to the night sky report for September 2025 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. During September, Saturn puts on a spectacular show and a sunrise conjunction shines bright as we ring in the autumnal equinox. Also this month, Pegasus becomes increasingly prominent in the southeastern sky, allowing skywatchers to locate globular clusters M2 (NGC 7089), M30 (NGC 7099), as well as a nearby double star, Alpha Capricorni, which is an optical double (but not a binary pair). The night sky is truly a celestial showcase, so get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

Welcome to the night sky report for August 2025 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. Mercury pops up above the horizon during the second half of August and appears very low, below 10 degrees altitude. Venus shines very brightly in the east each morning before sunrise, about 20 to 30 degrees above the horizon. Mars can be observed low in the west during the hour after sunset, appearing about as bright as the brightest stars in the Big Dipper. Jupiter appears in the east each morning, together with Venus, but much less bright. Finally, Saturn is observable late night to dawn and rises around 10:30 PM early in the month and around 8:30 PM by the end of the month. Find it high in the south as sunrise approaches. Also, in August, a number of star-studded figures soar overhead. Look for the constellation Lyra, shaped as a small parallelogram, which points to Epsilon Lyrae and the Ring Nebula (M57, NGC 6720). You can also spot three bright summer stars: Vega, Deneb, and Altair, which form the Summer Triangle. Keep observing around the group of stars commonly known as the Teapot and you’ll be looking toward the center of the Milky Way. In that direction, you can see the Lagoon Nebula (M8, NGC 6523). August is also a great month to learn an easy-to-spot constellation – Cygnus the swan. The night sky is truly a celestial showcase, so get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

Welcome to the night sky report for July 2025 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. Venus shines brightly in the east each morning a couple of hours before sunrise, with the Pleiades and the bright stars Aldebaran and Capella. Mars sits in the west, about 20 degrees above the horizon as twilight fades and sets a couple of hours after dark. Jupiter starts to become visible low in the east in the hour before sunrise after mid-month. You'll notice it rises a bit higher each day through August, quickly approaching closer to Venus each morning. Mercury is visible very, very low in the west the first week or so in July, but sets quickly after sunset. Saturn rises around midnight and climbs to a point high in the south as dawn approaches. July is also a prime time to view the Milky Way in all its glory. Find the constellation Scorpius to identify the reddish supergiant star Antares, which will lead you to the globular star cluster M4 (NGC 6121). M22 (NGC 6656) in the constellation Sagitarius is one of the brightest globular clusters in the sky and is visible to the naked eye. Keep observing around the group of stars commonly known as the Teapot and you’ll be looking toward the center of the Milky Way. In that direction, you can see the Lagoon Nebula (M8, NGC 6523), the Omega Nebula (M17, NGC 6618), and the Trifid Nebula (M20, NGC 6514). Two open star clusters, the Butterfly Cluster (M6, NGC 6405) and the Ptolemy Cluster (M7, NGC 6475), can be found on the end of the constellation Scorpius, just above the stinger. The night sky is truly a celestial showcase. Get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

Welcome to the night sky report for June 2025 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn make appearances during the month. The bright central bulge of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, is visible all night in June, continuing through August. It is best observed from dark sky locations far from bright city lights and appears as a faint, cloud-like band arching across the sky toward the south. During the month, look for the Hercules constellation, which will lead you to a globular star cluster with hundreds of thousands of densely packed stars. Globular cluster M13 (the Hercules Cluster, NGC 6205) is best observed with a telescope, but binoculars will reveal it as a fuzzy spot. You can also spot Draco the dragon, which will point you to the Cat’s Eye Nebula (C6, NGC 6543). The night sky is truly a celestial showcase. Get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

Welcome to the night sky report for May 2025 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. The planets to look for in May are Mars and Jupiter. They're visible for a couple of hours after sunset in the western sky.  Low in the eastern sky each morning you'll find bright Venus paired with much fainter Saturn. They start the month close together, but Saturn pulls away and rises higher over the course of the month.  Also, the first week of May brings the annual Eta Aquarid meteors, peaking on May 6th. In May, we are looking away from the crowded, dusty plane of our own galaxy toward a region where the sky is brimming with distant galaxies. Locate Virgo to find a concentration of roughly 2000 galaxies and search for Coma Berenices to identify many more. Coma Berenices is a great target for binoculars. Look for galaxies like M104 (Sombrero Galaxy), M87 (Virgo A Galaxy), and M64 (Black Eye Galaxy). The night sky is truly a celestial showcase. Get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

Welcome to the night sky report for April 2025 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. Enjoy observing Jupiter, Mars, and Venus in the morning and evening sky. In mid-April, look for the Lyrid meteors. Then hunt for the ancient ball of stars known as globular cluster M3 (NGC 5272). The night sky is truly a celestial showcase. Get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

Welcome to the night sky report for March 2025 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. Mercury is visible beneath Venus for the first week and a half of March, Mars is high in the east following sunset, and Jupiter is visible high in the west after dark – Not very spectacular. However, to make up for the limited planet viewing this month, there is a total lunar eclipse on the way that is visible in the Americas on the night of March 13th. During March, look for the constellations Gemini and Cancer to spot interesting celestial features like star clusters M35, the Beehive Cluster (M44), and NGC 3923 -- an oblong elliptical galaxy with an interesting ripple pattern. Find the Y-shaped constellation Taurus, the bull, high in the southwest. The Hyades star cluster forms the bull's face. The night sky is truly a celestial showcase. Get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.