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 • We mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission

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

This month’s contributors

Cosmic cluster COMBUSTION • Astronomers have recorded the biggest explosion ever witnessed in the Universe

BETELGEUSE brightens up • After a faint spell, the star is getting back up to its normal brightness levels

Comment

Aurorae seen dancing around exoplanet • The find could help track down potentially liveable worlds

Voyager 2 recovers from fault • The 42-year-old spacecraft is showing its age

‘Hidden Figure’, Katherine Johnson dies

NEWS IN BRIEF

CHEOPS takes first image • A defocusing technique analyses a star field’s overall light

IAU assesses ‘mega-constellations’

Heather Couper dies at 70

The planetary systems that never grow up • ‘Peter Pan’ dust discs persist around stars after they should have dispersed

Observing a stellar chameleon • Astronomers have been watching an unusual star for over 20 years

INSIDE THE SKY AT NIGHT • April’s episode of The Sky at Night looks at ESA’s Solar Orbiter, and speaks to Helen O’Brien about her work on the project

Looking back: The Sky at Night

Here comes the Sun

INTERACTIVE

Letter from a legend

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

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

Steve’s top tip • What do the numbers on binoculars mean?

SOCIETY IN FOCUS

BBC Sky at Night

WHAT’S ON

Edinburgh Science Festival 2020 • Various venues, Edinburgh, 4–19 April

A worldwide star-naming challenge • To celebrate its 100th anniversary the International Astronomical Union asked each country of the world to rename a host star and an orbiting exoplanet

APOLLO 13 • Cast adrift en route to the Moon, the crew of Apollo 13 fought to stay alive. Elizabeth Pearson investigates what happened on board during that fateful mission

MISSION BRIEF

Meet the astronauts

MISSION TIMELINE

MISSION CONTROL: Apollo 13’s only hope • Stranded in space, the astronauts were dependant on Mission Control to bring them home. Rod Pyle charts how it wrested success from failure

Inside Mission Control

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 three top sights to observe or image this month

THE PLANETS • Our celestial neighbourhood in April

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

MOONWATCH • April’s top lunar feature to observe

Blancanus

COMETS AND ASTEROIDS • Asteroid 3 Juno reaches opposition on 2 April in the constellation of Virgo

STAR OF THE MONTH • Dubhe, the ‘Pointer’ star at the Plough’s northeast corner

BINOCULAR TOUR • We find the trail of an ancient gazelle among this month’s wide-field treasures

THE SKY GUIDE CHALLENGE • Try and capture a shadow cast by the light of the brilliant planet Venus

DEEP-SKY TOUR • We search for galaxies at the bottom of the Bowl of Virgo

AT A GLANCE • How the Sky Guide events will appear in April

Hubble’s legacy: THE SEARCH FOR DARK ENERGY • Over 20 years ago, Hubble helped uncover a strange force driving...