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A telescopic photograph of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), a large planetary nebula appearing as a circular ring of glowing teal-green gas surrounded by a diffuse red outer halo, set against a black sky scattered with orange and white foreground stars.

The Sky Today on Wednesday, August 19: The Helix Nebula

A telescopic photograph showing two objects side by side against a dense, colorful star field: NGC 6939, a rich open star cluster with a mix of blue-white and orange stars in the upper left, and NGC 6946, the Fireworks Galaxy, a face-on spiral galaxy with a golden core and pink-tinged spiral arms visible in the lower right.

The Sky Today on Tuesday, August 18: Stars and sparklers

A sky chart showing the eastern sky on August 17, 2026, at 5 A.M. Mars glows orange near the top center, with the stars eta (η) and mu (μ) Geminorum labeled just below it. Castor and Pollux are visible to the left, Betelgeuse glows orange to the right, and the stars of Orion's belt are faintly visible at the far right edge. The sky fades to a soft twilight glow near the horizon.

The Sky Today on Monday, August 17: Mars at Gemini’s feet

A sky chart showing the western sky on August 16, 2026, one hour after sunset. The crescent Moon and Venus are shown close together and brightly glowing low in the warm twilight sky, with the star Spica labeled just above and to the left of the Moon. The sky transitions from deep blue-black above to a warm brown-orange near the dark horizon silhouette.

The Sky Today on Sunday, August 16: The Moon hangs with Venus

The sky on August 15, 2026, 40 minutes before sunrise, looking east

The Sky Today on Saturday, August 15: A conjunction of Mercury and Jupiter

A sky chart showing the eastern sky on August 14, 2026, at 4:45 A.M. Mars glows as a warm orange point near the upper center, with the Greek letter stars eta (η) and mu (μ) Geminorum labeled just below it. Castor and Pollux are visible to the left, and Betelgeuse glows orange to the right, with the stars of Orion's belt faintly visible further right. The sky fades to a subtle twilight glow near the dark horizon.

The Sky Today on Friday, August 14: Mars meets M35

A sky chart showing the eastern sky on August 15, 2026, 40 minutes before sunrise. Mercury and Jupiter are shown in very close conjunction near the horizon, appearing as a tight pair of bright points just above the dark treeline silhouette in a warm golden-orange pre-dawn sky. Castor and Pollux are labeled in the upper center, and Procyon is visible to the right.

Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from August 14 to 21: Mercury and Jupiter meet

A nighttime landscape photograph of Mount Shuksan in Washington State, its glaciated rocky peak and surrounding evergreen trees perfectly reflected in the still waters of Picture Lake below. A Perseid meteor streaks diagonally across the deep blue starry sky above the summit. The scene is bathed in cool blue moonlight, with stars trailing slightly due to the long exposure.

The Sky Today on Thursday, August 13: Catch streaming shooting stars

Total solar eclipse 2026: As it happened from Iceland

A composite photograph showing the progression of a total solar eclipse as a sequence of partially and fully eclipsed suns arcing diagonally across a blue sky above a mountainous landscape and calm lake. The phases progress from a crescent sun at lower left through totality near the middle, then back to a crescent at upper right.

The Sky Today on Wednesday, August 12: A total solar eclipse, plus the Perseids peak

The sky on August 11, 2026, 1 hour after sunset, looking west

The Sky Today on Tuesday, August 11: Venus, half-lit

A sky chart showing the northeastern sky on August 10, 2026, at 10 P.M. The open star cluster NGC 7243 is highlighted with a dashed blue box near the center of the image. Deneb is labeled above it, Polaris to the left, Cassiopeia below and to the left, and the Great Square of Pegasus to the lower right. A faint band of the Milky Way is visible near the top of the image.

The Sky Today on Monday, August 10: Open cluster NGC 7243