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 • Goodbye to long-serving Paul – and hello to darker skies!

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

This month's contributors

FREE BONUS CONTENT • Find it at www.skyatnightmagazine.com/bonus-content

BIG BIRD • It's a case of poultry perfection as the Running Chicken Nebula is revealed in high resolution

Japan's Moon mission a success in the end • SLIM Lander's power system failed after touchdown but then recovered

Carbon-light atmospheres may mean habitability • Water oceans suck carbon dioxide from planets’ atmospheres

Mapping star formation in the Whirlpool Galaxy

NEWS IN BRIEF

Dark energy could change with time • The find comes from the Largest sample of supernovae ever detected by a single telescope

Titan's magic floating islands • Transient isles form then dissolve on Saturn moon's seas

Hubble shows storm-ravaged exoplanet

NEWS IN BRIEF

Life in Venus's acid clouds • Complex organic molecules may exist in the hellish atmosphere above Venus

Are roving gas clouds behind dark matter? • The blink of distant quasars may hint at one of the cosmos's big mysteries

INSIDE THE SKY AT NIGHT • Production coordinator Rachael Scott looks back on the last season of The Sky at Night and tells us what it takes for the TV show to run smoothly

Looking back: The Sky at Night • 15 March 1980

INTERACTIVE

Meet the stars

ON FACEBOOK

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

BBC Sky at Night

WHAT'S ON

PICK OF THE MONTH

The expanding Universe of the mind • Jonathan Powell reflects on where our finite understanding meets infinite space

Cosmic factories • It's said that we're all made of star stuff, but how is that star stuff itself made? Harry Cliff explains

It began with a bang • The amount of hydrogen and helium in the Universe was set after the Big Bang

Small stars, big elements • Under certain conditions, stars Like the Sun can create heavy elements as well

Aurorae and solar maximum • We could be in for some incredible aurora displays as the Sun's magnetic activity is due to peak this year

The shape of the aurora • The lights take on many forms across the night sky

How to catch an aurora display • Finding the right time and place is the key when tracking down the Northern Lights

Lighting for the dark • Lighting designer Kerem Asfuroglu explains how considerate lighting has helped three communities to protect their dark skies

The Sky Guide • MARCH 2024

MARCH HIGHLIGHTS • Your guide to the night sky this month

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

DONT'S MISS Comet C/2021 S3 PanSTARRS and the Coathanger • THE BIG THREE The top sights to observe or image this month

Comet 12P/ Pons-Brooks • BEST TIME TO SEE: 1–17 March and 26–31 March

Crescent Moon, Jupiter and the Pleiades • BEST TIME TO SEE: Evenings of 13 and 14 March

PICK OF THE MONTH

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

MOONWATCH • March's top lunar feature to observe

COMETS AND ASTEROIDS • A potential binocular catch, 11th-Largest asteroid 3 Juno is at its brightest in March

STAR OF THE MONTH • 55 Cancri, a star...