The world's best-selling astronomy magazine offers you the most exciting, visually stunning, and timely coverage of the heavens above. Each monthly issue includes expert science reporting, vivid color photography, complete sky coverage, spot-on observing tips, informative telescope reviews, and much more! All this in a user-friendly style that's perfect for astronomers at any level.
Whaddya think of UFOs?
Astronomy
ASTRO LET TERS
JUPITER’S MAMMOTH MOON • Ganymede’s icy beauty is captured in new images from Juno.
HOT BYTES
NASA, ESA TO RETURN TO VENUS • Three probes will voyage to our sister planet by the early 2030s.
QUICK TAKES
THE BORTLE DARK-SKY SCALE • SEEING CLEARLY. Pollution from artificial lights profoundly impacts our view of the skies. Developed in 2001 by amateur astronomer John E. Bortle, the Bortle dark-sky scale runs from 1 (best) to 9 (worst) to rate the quality of the night sky’s darkness.
BLACK HOLES CAN BOOST STAR FORMATION IN SATELLITE GALAXIES
Third type of supernova explosion confirmed
FAILED ERUPTION FALLS BACK TO SUN
Facing reality • What’s in a Full Moon?
Catching Mercury by the tail • It’s possible to capture this planet’s glowing sodium tail without any filters or special equipment.
The James Webb Space Telescope lives! • The most powerful space telescope ever built, NASA’s new flagship observatory will look deeper than Hubble and hunt for neighboring life.
THE JOURNEY TO L2
Making Webb’s mirrors
HOW JWST WORKS
Are we alone?
Observe JWST yourself
CAPTURING the COSMOS • Astrophotography takes loads of practice and plenty of patience. But the results can be truly spectacular.
Tour one astronomy club’s OBSERVING MECCA • The Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association is preserving and sharing dark skies at its observing complex near the Chiricahua Mountains.
THE GRAND CANYON STAR PARTY
JOIN US!
OCTOBER 2021 Catch Mercury in the morning • THE SOLAR SYSTEM’S CHANGING LANDSCAPE AS IT APPEARS IN EARTH’S SKY.
RISING MOON I Splish splash
METEOR WATCH I Full Moon interference
STAR DOME
PATHS OF THE PLANETS
COMET SEARCH I Crossing the plane
LOCATING ASTEROIDS I The tortoise and the hares
NEUTRON STARS A cosmic gold mine • These exotic stars may hold the key to solving some of physics’ greatest mysteries.
A NEUTRON STAR WITH AN IDENTITY CRISIS
NEUTRON STARS, KILONOVAE, AND MAGNETARS, OH MY!
Looking for galaxies IN ALL THE wrong places • Despite battling copious dust and crowded star fields, observing galaxies through the Milky Way is well worth the effort.
Our 11th annual STAR PRODUCTS
The cosmic Harp • Stellar pairs and a planetary nebula await in Lyra.
NEW PRODUCTS
Martian North Star • Astronomy’s experts from around the globe answer your cosmic questions.
Cosmic portraits
A GALACTIC GEM WORTHY OF A KING
December 2021 Venus dazzles at dusk
STAR DOME