The great variable star Mira in Cetus is still easily visible to the unaided eye in mid-March 2026.  Here we see it low in the west about 90 minutes after sunset, shining at what I estimate is somewhere between magnitude 3.2 and 3.5 based on comparisons with three other stars around it.  Unannotated image.

Hover over the above thumbnail to see Mira and three comparison stars and their magnitudes to get an idea of how bright Mira is on this date. Of course, the camera will render objects that appear in the center of the frame brightest so we have to factor that in when using the stars above, to the right and to the left as compari- son stars. Another factor would be whether the camera records different colors with the same intensity; it probably does not do so exactly, making my estimate of 3.2 to 3.5 fairly rough.

I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the newfound comet, known as Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS), located in eastern Cetus just south of Mira. The bottom line up front is that I didn't record it on the image, but I marked its location with a circle. It will continue to move north and a bit to the west from this point forward, and will also be- come significantly brighter owing partly to the fact that it is a sungrazer.