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 • There’s more to observe in city skies than you might think

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

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This month’s contributors

Extra content ONLINE • Visit www.skyatnightmagazine.com/bonus-content/P28YQYE/ to access this month’s selection of exclusive Bonus Content

LORD OF THE RINGS • A newly released image shows the ‘light echoes’ from a briefly reignited black hole

BULLETIN • The latest astronomy and space news, written by Ezzy Pearson

Comment

NEWS IN BRIEF

CUTTING EDGE • Our experts examine the hottest new research

INSIDE THE SKY AT NIGHT • Carly Howett will field Solar System questions in September’s episode of The Sky at Night, but she will answer her own when Lucy takes flight

Looking back: The Sky at Night • 11 October 1992

The sky at night OCTOBER

INTERACTIVE • Email us at inbox@skyatnightmagazine.com

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

Sky at Night

WHAT’S ON • We pick the best live and virtual astronomy events and resources this month

PICK OF THE MONTH

FIELD OF VIEW • The amateur astronomer’s forum

Astronomy Photographer of the Year • BBC Sky at Night Magazine proudly reveals the 2021 winners of the world’s biggest astrophotography competition

THE JUDGES

URBAN STARGAZING Astronomy under light-polluted skies • Astronomer Will Gater guides you through the possibilities of stargazing from more brightly-lit locations

The Sky Guide

OCTOBER HIGHLIGHTS • This month’s stargazing and imaging at a glance

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 October

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

MOONWATCH • October’s top lunar feature to observe

COMETS AND ASTEROIDS • View Comet 4P/Faye as it passes slightly to the east of Betelgeuse

STAR OF THE MONTH • Sadalmelik, a bright gem of Aquarius

BINOCULAR TOUR • Locate wide-field wonders, including two parallelograms in Pisces and Capricornus

THE SKY GUIDE CHALLENGE • This month, see if you can locate the presence of a black hole at Cygnus X-1

DEEP-SKY TOUR • Take in magnificent galaxies in the vicinity of Triangulum, the Triangle

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

The autumn GRAND TOUR • As the nights begin to get longer, Stuart Atkinson takes us on a tour of the new season’s astronomical highlights

HUBBLE OUT OF TROUBLE • The venerable space telescope spent weeks out of action this summer. Melissa Brobby looks at how NASA brought it back to life and asks how long Hubble has left

Computer says no • The unit that led to Hubble’s outage in June was a vintage computer component

Keeping an eye on Hubble • Meet Nzinga Tull, Hubble Systems Anomaly Response Manager

EXPLAINER • The fundamentals of astronomy for beginners

DEEP SPACE DELIVERIES • What have we learned from space rocks that have already been returned to Earth?

DIY ASTRONOMY • Practical astronomy projects for every level of expertise

CAPTURE • Take the perfect astrophoto with our...