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 • Join us under the stars as we welcome back the longer nights

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

This month’s contributors

Extra content ONLINE

A SPIRAL WITH A SOFT CENTRE • Blue stars glitter on the feathery arms of a flocculent galaxy

BULLETIN

Comment

NEWS IN BRIEF

CUTTING EDGE • Our experts examine the hottest new research

INSIDE THE SKY AT NIGHT • The Sky at Night TV show, past, present and future

Looking back: The Sky at Night

The Sky at Night SEPTEMBER

INTERACTIVE • Emails – Letters – Tweets – Facebook – Instagram – Kit questions

This month’s top prize: four Philip’s titles

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

BBC Sky at Night MAGAZINE

WHAT’S ONLINE • We pick the best astronomy events and resources available online this month

PICK OF THE MONTH

FIELD OF VIEW • The astronomer’s forum

BBC Sky at Night Magazine

Life and death in the NIGHT SKY • The life of a star is written across our sky. Stuart Atkinson explains how you can see every stage for yourself

Equipment guide • A simple setup should be all you need to journey through a stellar lifetime

Photographing the stellar lifecycle • With fluid filaments painted in beautiful colours, there’s plenty of photo opportunities

The bigger picture • Astronomers aren’t just looking at stars within our own Galaxy

The key to unlocking DARK ENERGY • New research could help us understand the force that we think is accelerating the expansion of the Universe. As Colin Stuart explains, it’s all to do with the number 0.007297351

A short history of dark energy • A puzzling observation 22 years ago led to today’s theories of dark energy

Dark energy what could it be? • The best current explanations for the Universe’s accelerating rate of expansion

THE MOON MEETS MARS • Observe the bright Red Planet with a waning gibbous Moon and other great conjunctions this month

SEPTEMBER 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 September

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

MOONWATCH • September’s top lunar feature to observe

COMETS AND ASTEROIDS • Asteroid 19 Fortuna reaches opposition in Pisces on 11 September

STAR OF THE MON • Seeing red in the Great Square of Pegasus

BINOCULAR TOUR With Steve Tonkin • This month’s wide-field wonders include the double star Albireo and the Ring Nebula

THE SKY GUIDE CHALLENGE • Can you observe Phobos and Deimos, the two small moons of Mars?

DEEP-SKY TOUR • We search for planetary nebulae targets, including the Dumbbell Nebula, M27

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

SPARKLING STARS A sky safari with binoculars • Binocular are a great way to get into stargazing and Steve Tonkin’s tour designed especially for them will take you to some of the best targets for two eyes this month

The Red Planet goes RETROGRADE • As Mars’s favourable October opposition get closer, watch the planet reverse its apparent motion...