BBC Sky at Night

Sky at Night magazine is your practical guide to astronomy. Each issue features the world’s biggest and best night sky guide complete with star charts, observing tutorials and in-depth equipment reviews to ensure that amateur astronomers never miss those must-see events.

Welcome • The race is really on in the search for life beyond Earth

This month's contributors

FREE BONUS CONTENT

VELA'S BOUNTY • A huge 1.3-gigapixel image shows the remains of a giant star’s explosive death

We've misunderstood the Universe • JWST confirms ‘Hubble tension’ isn’t down to observational error

Water found around likely new planet • It has been spotted all across a star’s planet-forming disc

Our black hole's magnetic field revealed

NEWS IN BRIEF

Heaviest black hole pair ever discovered • The record-breaking duo appear to have starved themselves to a standstill

Third time lucky for SpaceX • Starship makes it to space and the first milestone in plans to take humans to the Moon and Mars

NEWS IN BRIEF

Oldest dead galaxy spotted • The galaxy stopped producing stars around 13 billion years ago

Planetary winds lit by neon lights

Eclipses clear the clouds • Reduced solar radiation during eclipses causes low-level clouds to melt away

Stars form fast in the Lagoon Nebula • The motion of stars in the stellar nursery may reveal how they’re born

INSIDE THE SKY AT NIGHT • In the first episode of a new series this April, The Sky at Night met Ashley King, the only British scientist to take a first look at the asteroid sample brought back by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission

Looking back: The Sky at Night 15 May 1974

INTERACTIVE

ON FACEBOOK

SCOPE DOCTOR • Our equipment specialist cures your optical ailments and technical maladies With Steve Richards

BBC Sky at Night

WHAT'S ON • We pick the best live and virtual astronomy events and resources this month

PICK OF THE MONTH

Cracking the mirror • Jonathan Powell on the story behind the creation of Newton’s reflecting telescope

CHANG'E 6 journeys to the lunar far side • China is set to return the first-ever rocks from the Moon’s far side. Jean Deville and Blaine Curcio take a look at what the mission has in store

International instruments • Collaboration is an increasingly important aspect of lunar exploration

The Queqiao lunar constellation • Satellites orbiting the Moon are key to operations on the far side

STAR PARTIES past and present • Step back in time with Stuart Atkinson as he revisits the star parties of yesteryear and reflects on how things have changed since the 1980s

Star party etiquette • Preparation and consideration: the principles of being a good star-party-goer haven’t changed

Five of the best • Our pick of the best star parties in the UK and US, where dark skies and good company are guaranteed

Building blocks of the UNIVERSE • In the first part of our new series, Govert Schilling explains what particle physics is

Mass and energy • Einstein’s equations show that energy can be used to measure mass

The Sky Guide • MAY 2024

MAY HIGHLIGHTS • Your guide to the night sky this month

NEED TO KNOW • The terms and symbols used in The Sky Guide

Thin Moon hunting • The top sights to observe or image this month

Eta Aquariids

Lunar occultation of M4

Saturn • Our celestial neighbourhood in May

THE NIGHT SKY - MAY • Explore the celestial sphere with our Northern Hemisphere all-sky chart

MOONWATCH • May’s top lunar feature to observe

COMETS AND ASTEROIDS • Small scopes can easily track...