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Kym @ The Evening Sky Map
@skymaps.com
1.5K followers 200 following 530 posts
Lifelong sky watcher • Publisher of The Evening Sky Map (PDF) each month since January 2000: skymaps.com/tesm/ • Interests: Astronomy outreach • Astro-imaging • Supernovae | Career scientist (retired)
Kym Thalassoudis PhD
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skymaps.com
Earlier today I captured this view of sunspots including the huge AR 4366 complex using a low-cost achromat refractor coupled to a Herschel wedge and a narrowband filter, and an ASI462MC camera. 🔭 🧪
#Sun #sunspots
A telescopic image of several sunspots on the Sun including a much larger sunspot complex. A narrowband filter in the green part of the visible spectrum (540nm) was used to take the image resulting in the Sun's surface appearing bright green in color. Credit: Kym Thalassoudis
February 4, 2026 at 9:32 AM
skymaps.com
A few hours ago I captured this image of #supernova 2025ajmj in the galaxy IC 4366 (210 MLY). The Type Ia SN was discovered 29 Dec'25 by ATLAS. Images taken over 2 nights shows 2025ajmj is currently slowly fading as expected. 🔭 🧪

Imaging rig: skymaps.com/ir2/
A monochrome telescopic image showing a rich star field and a few small fuzzy objects which are galaxies. The location of the supernova in an outer spiral arm of the galaxy is marked with a pair of lines. The supernova has the same appearance as the fainter stars in the image, but is much, much brighter than the indistinguisable stars which form the faint spiral structure of the galaxy.
February 4, 2026 at 12:39 AM
skymaps.com
🌖 ⭐ Over the next few hours, the Moon will once again pass near the bright star Regulus. Closest approach is at 4h UT on 3 February 2026. An occultation will be visible from parts of Northern America and Africa. Image shows view prior to ingress from NYC at 8:45pm on 2nd Feb'26. 🔭
#stargazing
A simulated image of the Moon created in Sky Safari Pro. The image shows the waning gibbous Moon and the bright star Regulus shortly before the start of the lunar occultation on 2 February 2026 at 8:45pm local time.
February 2, 2026 at 11:26 PM
skymaps.com
🌕 The Full Moon in February 2026 occurs on the 2nd day of the month at 22:09 UT (now). Step outside this evening and look up to enjoy the view. 🔭
February 2026 sky events: skymaps.com/skycalendar/
Imaging rig: skymaps.com/ir2/
A detailed telescopic photograph of the Full Moon against a black background. The image exhibits a range of gray tones that emphasize its craters, plains, and other surface features. The image was taken with a Sky-Watcher Maksutov-Newtonian telescope described at: skymaps.com/ir2/ Image Credit: Kym Thalassoudis
February 1, 2026 at 10:09 PM
skymaps.com
🌟 Over the next few hours, the Moon will appear close to Jupiter -- the largest planet in the Solar System. Currently in Gemini, Jupiter is easy to find tonight -- it's the bright white "star" near the Moon. Closest approach is at 4h UT on 31 January. Simply look up and enjoy the view! 🔭
#stargazing
January 30, 2026 at 10:37 PM
skymaps.com
🌔 The waxing gibbous Moon will reach perigee (closest to Earth) at 21:46 UT (now) on 29 January 2026. At this time the Moon's distance from Earth will be 365,871 km or 227,342 miles and span an angular diameter of 32.7 arc-minutes. 🔭
#stargazing #Moon
A simulated image of the Moon created by Sky Safari Pro. The image shows the waxing gibbous Moon as it will appear at perigee (closest to Earth) on 29 January 2026. Many craters and dark lava plain are depicted.
January 29, 2026 at 9:46 PM
skymaps.com
🌟 The February 2026 edition of The Evening Sky Map (PDF) is now available for download at skymaps.com/tesm/. The PDF features easy-to-use sky maps for the northern & southern hemispheres, and for the equatorial regions. Please share, and enjoy exploring the Universe! 🔭
#stargazing #space
The Evening Sky Map is a 2-page monthly publication in the PDF format that features an all-sky map of the night sky, a calendar of celestial events, and a list of celestial objects visible to the naked eye, binoculars and telescopes.
January 28, 2026 at 3:39 PM
skymaps.com
On the evening of 27 January, look up to view a close approach of the Moon and the Pleiades star cluster (aka The Seven Sisters & M45). Closest approach is at 22h UT. Enjoy the view. Use binoculars if available. 🔭
#stargazing #space
Image taken with an Askar SQA55: skymaps.com/ir0/
A telescopic photograph of the Pleiades star cluster showing many bright white stars with light blue coloured nebulosity surrounding most of the brighter stars.
January 27, 2026 at 4:55 AM
skymaps.com
🌟 380 million years ago in a galaxy far, far away a star exploded. Now known as 2025ahkt the light from the Type Ia-91T supernova eventually reached Earth in mid-December 2025 and was discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility in California.🔭 🧪
#astronomy #supernova
A monochrome telescopic image showing a star field and several small fuzzy objects which are galaxies. The location of the supernova in one of the galaxies is indicated with a pair of lines.
January 26, 2026 at 11:46 PM
skymaps.com
🌓 26 January: First Quarter Moon at 4:47 UT (now).

The days around First Quarter are the best time to explore and view craters and many other lunar features. A telescope will provide spectacular views. 🔭

📖 NG Moon Map (Amazon): skymaps.com/a1/1566959535/
#stargazing #moon
A telescopic photograph of the First Quarter Moon showing well defined craters along the terminator.
January 26, 2026 at 4:47 AM
skymaps.com
The Waxing Crescent Moon will appear close to Saturn over the next few minutes & hours. The pair is best seen from about an hour after sunset with closest approach around 10h UT on 23 January. To spot Saturn, look for the bright yellow "star" a few degrees from the Moon. 🔭
January 23, 2026 at 9:17 AM
skymaps.com
21 Jan: Mercury at superior conjunction with the Sun at 16h UT (now). The innermost planet passes into the evening sky. 🔭
January 21, 2026 at 4:00 PM
skymaps.com
Wow! The Southern Lights delivered an incredible spectacle last night (January 20, 2026) over southern Australia. Stretching 90° across the southern sky, the aurora reached heights of up to 70°. This stunning phenomenon is seldom seen from a latitude of 35° South. 🔭
#aurora
A single 30 second exposure photograph of the southern sky at night taken with a wide angle camera lens. The Aurora Australis, also known as the Southern Lights, is captured as bright vertical rays extending upwards from a tree-lined horizon. The colors of the aurora vary upwards from the horizon, and are in order green, pink, purple and blue. The star-filled band of the Milky Way is visible on the left including the Southern Cross, the Pointers, the Coal Sack, with the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds near the image centre. Image Credit: Kym Thalassoudis
January 20, 2026 at 10:27 PM
Reposted by Kym @ The Evening Sky Map
naztronomy.com
High Probability of Auroras. Heard that some people in Germany are reporting them even with poor Bz and Bt values.

#Aurora #astronomy
High probability of auroras tonight. Screenshot of forecast from spaceweather.gov
January 19, 2026 at 10:28 PM
skymaps.com
The recently discovered Kreutz comet 6AC7421 is only just discernible in this image captured on January 17.500 2026 with a 190mm f/5.3 Maksutov-Newtonian telescope. Perihelion is predicted to occur in the first week of April 2026.
#astrophotography #6AC4721

🔭: skymaps.com/ir2/
📷: Kym Thalassoudis
A monochrome telescopic image of the Kreutz comet 6AC4721 taken on 17 January 2026. The image has been inverted to help reveal the extremely faint comet which appears as a faint smudge against a light grey background surrounded by many black stars of various magnitudes.
January 19, 2026 at 7:30 PM
skymaps.com
Two telescopes set up for Solar Viewing at a Sunday BBQ lunch. Despite the heat (35°C or 95°F) guests enjoyed detailed views of many sunspots, filaments and prominences. 🔭

Warning: Never look directly at the Sun through a telescope or in any other way, unless you have the proper filters.
A photograph in a park showing two telescopes in the foreground with shady trees and about a dozen people standing in the shade in the background. It's a bright sunny day and both telescopes are pointing skywards. An A-frame stand displays information about the Sun.
January 18, 2026 at 10:30 PM
skymaps.com
18 Jan: New Moon occurred at 19:52 UT. Start of lunation 1275.

🌟 The next few days remain a great time for evening stargazing. Download The Evening Sky Map (PDF) (skymaps.com/tesm/) and enjoy exploring the Universe with your eyes, binoculars or a telescope! 🔭
#stargazing #space
January 18, 2026 at 8:41 PM
skymaps.com
A comet discovery of note, and one to watch out for over the coming days and weeks. 🔭
pepechambo.cometografia.es Pepe Chambó @pepechambo.cometografia.es · 22d
🚨 Newly discovered object, provisional 6AC4721, has been identified as a Kreutz-group sungrazing comet.
In mag. 18, despite being very faint, it shows activity beyond 2 AU. Perihelion is expected in early April 2026. Likely to disintegrate, but scientifically intriguing 🔭
Image: A.Hale, LCO-SAAO.
January 16, 2026 at 2:20 AM
skymaps.com
🌙 🌟 In a few hours time, Antares the brightest star in Scorpius will be occulted by the waning crescent Moon. The occultation commences at 18h UT on 14 January and will be visible from Australia. 🔭
More info: in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=...
Lunar occultation of Antares
14 January 2026: The Moon will pass in front of Antares (Alpha Scorpii), creating a lunar occultation visible from Australia. – In-The-Sky.org.
in-the-sky.org
January 14, 2026 at 11:44 AM
skymaps.com
🌙 The Moon will reach apogee (farthest from Earth) at 21h UT (now) on 13 January. At this time the Moon's distance from Earth will be 405,438 km or 251,927 miles and span an angular size of 29.5 arc-minutes. 🔭
#stargazing
January 13, 2026 at 9:00 PM
skymaps.com
🌗 🌟 Over the next few hours, the Last Quarter Moon will pass near Spica, the brightest star in Virgo. Best seen in the morning sky with closest approach at 0h UT on 11 January. Spica's position near the ecliptic makes for regular close encounters with the Moon.🔭
Sky Lore Books: skymaps.com/myths/
An illustration from an 1822 star atlas highlighting the constellation Virgo depicted as a winged female figure against a background of stars and constellations all of which are shown as line drawings. Brighter stars are indicated with larger star symbols. The more prominent stars are labelled with Greek letters, and a few are also labelled with star names. The position of the ecliptic is shown passing through the constellation Virgo. Image source: Plate 18, A Celestial Atlas by Alexander Jamieson (1822).
January 10, 2026 at 9:04 PM
skymaps.com
🌗 The Last Quarter Moon occurs on January 10th at 15:48 UT (now) marking the onset of moonless evening skies. This is an ideal time for stargazing over the next week or so. Go to skymaps.com/tesm/ to download The Evening Sky Map (PDF) and enjoy a night under the stars! 🔭
#stargazing
January 10, 2026 at 3:48 PM
skymaps.com
Venus was at superior conjunction a few days ago (January 6th). Mars is at conjunction today (January 9th), and Jupiter will be at opposition tomorrow (January 10th). The close timing of these events results in the planetary alignment depicted in this view of the Solar System.🔭
A simulated view showing the current location of the planets by looking down onto the plane of the Solar System.
January 9, 2026 at 12:29 PM
skymaps.com
🌓 ⭐ Over the next few hours, the Moon will once again pass near the bright star Regulus. Closest approach is around 17h UT on 6 January. An occultation will be visible from Russia, China, Mongolia and eastern Kazakhstan. 🔭
More info: in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=...
January 6, 2026 at 2:30 PM
skymaps.com
Over the next few hours the near Full Moon will pass by the bright stars Castor and Pollux (the Twins of Gemini), and the bright planet Jupiter. 🔭
January Sky Calendar: skymaps.com/skycalendar/
January 3, 2026 at 10:39 PM