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 • Found all the Easter eggs? Go on a spring galaxy hunt

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This month’s contributors

Extra content ONLINE

EYE ON THE SKY

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 • Georgina Dransfield visited Antarctica to search for exoplanets and filmed her time there for the April episode of The Sky at Night

Looking back: The Sky at Night • 26 May 1970

The Sky at Night MAY

INTERACTIVE

Ted in space!

SCOPE DOCTOR

The 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 • Caroline Burrows spends a month making poetic observations of the Moon

Welcome to GALAXY SEASON • For many astronomers, springtime means one thing – galaxies. Stuart Atkinson reveals this season’s deep-sky highlights

Why is springtime galaxy season? • Our planet’s journey around the Sun provides us with an ever-changing view of the Universe

From particles to parsecs • Toby Friend considers how the development of astronomy and cosmology on the largest of scales, and particle physics on the very smallest, has often been intertwined

Star credentials • A British-American astronomer who helped uncover what stars are made of

Producing particles • Particle accelerators recreate the Universe’s extreme environments

In search of the Belt of Venus • Katrin Raynor-Evans looks at what causes the beautiful atmospheric phenomenon that occurs in the sky opposite a sunset or sunrise

The Sky Guide MAY 2022

MAY HIGHLIGHTS • Your guide to the night sky this month

THE BIG THREE • The top sights to observe or image this month

THE PLANETS • Our celestial neighbourhood in May

JUPITER’S MOONS: MAY

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

MOONWATCH • May’s top lunar feature to observe

COMETS AND ASTEROIDS • 13 Egeria reaches opposition in the constellation of Libra, the Scales

STAR OF THE MONTH • Izar, a stunning double star situated in Boötes

BINOCULAR TOUR • This month we travel from the North Celestial Pole to the North Ecliptic Pole

THE SKY GUIDE CHALLENGE • Can you record the size of Mars’s disc, in the run up to opposition and beyond?

DEEP-SKY TOUR • We look for objects along the borders of the constellations Ursa Major, Draco and Bootes

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

PIONEERS OF DARK MATTER • The term ‘dark matter’ was coined a century ago this month. Govert Schilling selects seven scientists who shed light on astronomy’s biggest mystery

Learning about LAYERS • Expert astrophotographer Will Gater provides a beginner’s guide to the power of layers-based image editing

Get to know your way around the celestial sphere • Jane Green explains the system that helps astronomers to navigate around the heavens

Telescopes and star coordinates • How different mounts are used to guide telescopes using RA and dec. coordinates

Sketch a deep-sky object at the eyepiece • Discover a simple and effective technique for...