Australian Sky & Telescope

WHEN PEOPLE FIND OUT that I’m into astronomy, they often ask, “Why? What good does it do?” They seem to think that it’s either a waste of time and money, just plain weird, or that I should spend more time thinking about our own planet. When I try to

EDITORIAL EDITOR Jonathan Nally ART DIRECTOR Lee McLachlan REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS John Drummond, David Ellyard, Alan Plummer, David Seargent, EMAIL info@skyandtelescope.com.au ADVERTISING ADVERTISING MANAGER Jonathan Nally EMAIL jonathan@skyandtelescop

Light pollution is creeping up even on astronomical observatories. According to a study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, only a handful of all large observatories are in truly dark sites, with skyglow less than 1% b

ACCLAIMED ASTROPHOTOGRAPHER Akira Fujii passed away on December 28, 2022, at age 81. A contributing photographer to this magazine for decades, he worked almost exclusively with large-format colour film. Fujii’s wide-field views of the constellations,

Once we became used to the idea that the Earth orbited the Sun rather than the other way ’round, a way was opened up to measure how far away the stars were… distances that could barely be guessed at. The hunt was on to determine ‘stellar parallax’. T

A nova is named for the genitive of its constellation plus the year its light reached Earth. A great nova in Perseus in 1901 is therefore named Nova Persei 1901. Novae receive variable star names as well; that one is also called GK Persei. If more th

ON SEPTEMBER 26, 2022, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft ended its existence in spectacular fashion by smashing into the asteroid Dimorphos. Many of us watched spellbound as DART’s cameras fixed upon the approaching target. At fi

HOW Go outside within an hour or so of a time listed above. Hold the map out in front of you and turn it around so the label for the direction you’re facing (such as west or northeast) is right-side up. The curved edge represents the horizon, and the

May will be a great month for seeing Mercury (mag. 2.2, dia. 11˝, May 15), with the planet climbing into the dawn sky following inferior conjunction on the 2nd. On the 18th, it will be seen in company with the very thin crescent Moon, with Jupiter a

If it’s May, it’s Eta Aquariids meteor shower time. Commonly known simply as the ‘Etas,’ this is one of the best showers for Southern Hemisphere observers. Eta meteors are usually fast-moving, have a yellow tinge and often leave persistent trains, wh

For most of astronomy’s history, observers recorded what they saw at the eyepiece by jotting down notes, sketching, or both. These methods can be subjective, leading to eclectic interpretations of the science of the skies. Nonetheless they afforded u

A SUPERNOVA EXPLOSION recorded by astronomes in East Asia almost 850 years ago has produced an unusual remnant. “I’ve worked on supernovae for [decades], and I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Robert Fesen (Dartmouth College). Fesen presented