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 • JUICE – our best chance to find life beyond Earth?

Sky at Night

Sky at Night – lots of ways to enjoy the night sky…

This month's contributors

Extra content ONLINE

SERENE SHINING STARS • A moment of calm in a tumultuous Universe

Perseverance's pick-up point • Sample tubes have been gathered on the surface for future collection

Trouble at the ISS • Problems with two docked spacecraft could put future crew rotations in jeopardy

Sunspots reach unexpected peak • The current solar cycle is far more active than predicted

A view into our Galaxy's past

NEWS IN BRIEF

UK funding for new lunar network • The system will provide a single service for future Moon missions

JWST breaks theories of the early Universe

Saved from the supernova • Magnetic fields throughout the Galaxy could help deflect deadly radiation

Dark matter could be made of black holes • Are tiny black holes the gravitational glue holding galaxies together?

INSIDE THE SKY AT NIGHT • As this month's show looks at exoplanets, Emma Johanna Puranen reflects on how alien worlds bring science and science fiction together

Looking back: The Sky at Night • 11 April 1981

The Sky at Night APRIL

INTERACTIVE

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

Sky at Night

WHAT'S ON

PICK OF THE MONTH

The very, very early Space Race • No engine? No problem! Jonathan Powell on the daring early days of rocket science

JUICE TAKES FLIGHT • Set to launch this month, the European-led JUICE spacecraft will explore the frozen worlds orbiting the gas giant Jupiter. Will Gater reports on the exciting flagship mission

Squeezing the science out of JUICE • To uncover the moons’ secrets, JUICE is equipped with the most powerful instruments ever sent to the outer Solar System

Life on the icy moons • Could habitats capable of supporting life be lurking under the crusts of Jupiter's icy moons?

Eyes on Europa • Next year, another mission – Clipper – will be heading towards Jupiter's icy moon Europa

Mercury returns to twilight • The inner wanderer graces our evening skies once again this month. Charlotte Daniels reveals when to look for Mercury, and what you'll be able to see

Unravelling Mercury's mysteries • What do we know about the innermost planet, and how has humanity explored it?

What's next for Mercury? • Keep an eye out for more chances to see the planet in the months ahead

Does the Universe have an edge? • Part 4 of our series in which Govert Schilling explains cosmology's most complex concepts

Once infinite, always infinite • Whether tiny, hot nugget or unimaginably huge cosmos, space goes on forever

VENUS AND THE PLEAIDES • Venus makes a close pass of the Pleiades open cluster this month – a photogenic conjunction not to be missed!

APRIL HIGHLIGHTS • Your guide to the night sky this month

Family stargazing

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

THE BIG THREE • The top sights to observe or image this month

Venus and the Pleiades • BEST TIME TO SEE: Early evening, 8-14 April

Occultation of Alniyat • BEST TIME TO SEE: 10 April, start viewing from 03:00 BST (02:00 UT)

THE PLANETS • Our celestial neighbourhood in April

The planets in...