Astronomy

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