I bet each and every one of you has marveled at the amazingly bright planet Jupiter currently looming high in the evening sky among the stars of Taurus. Dazzling at magnitude –2.8, the king of planets is commanding in its dominance over stars surrounding...

You can listen to Astronomy magazine Contributing Editor Sheldon Reynolds talk about his feelings on the probability of life elsewhere in the cosmos in a new podcast on the Synopsis website. Check it out here . As you may know, Sheldon is an accomplished...

Many of you undoubtedly know Dean Regas, a good friend and cohost of the show Star Gazers on PBS. Dean offers up some thoughts on the silliness over the Mayan calendar today, which I’m delighted to share with you. And remember to tune in for Dean’s...

The very talented astroimaging team of Patrick Hochleitner and Dieter Beer, who photograph deep-sky objects from their wonderful site in Austria, have produced a stunning image. We’ve all observed the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) in Canes Venatici, one...

This week, I heard about an unusual offer that may constitute the dream retirement situation for an enthusiastic amateur astronomer and his or her companion. Caisey Harlingten, the Canadian amateur astronomer and entrepreneur behind the Colossus Telescope...

I’m delighted to announce that Astronomy magazine is now in partnership with a longtime leader in digital planetarium software, Distant Suns . Originally released for the Commodore Amiga in 1987, Distant Suns has grown to become a dominant player...

John Chumack of Dayton, Ohio, is a tireless astroimager, and he is very good at sending his work to us at the magazine. His latest venture was to photograph the Geminid meteor shower, which peaked last week, and he created a “movie” from the...

I’m sure all of you have heard the terribly sad news of the passing of Patrick Moore earlier this week. The legendary British TV presenter introduced astronomy to more people than anyone but perhaps Carl Sagan, and the astronomy world will not recover...

A short essay I included in the January Astronomy focused on the possibilities of civilizations in the cosmos. How many could there be among the 50,000 billion billion possible star systems we know must exist? Your response has been remarkable. I’ve...

Check out this incredible photograph of November 14’s total solar eclipse, an event widely observed by thousands who traveled to Australia to see it. Astronomy magazine friend and contributor Dennis Mammana of Borrego Springs, California, made the...

Dear Astronomy Foundation Supporters, Thank you for all that you do to help the cause of popularizing amateur astronomy. When Joe Lupica, chairman of the telescope manufacturer Celestron, envisioned the Astronomy Foundation in 2008, he foresaw an organization...

In the huge response I’ve received from Astronomy readers regarding civilizations in the universe (see my brief story on the subject in the January issue), along came an intriguing note. Kevin Marcus, a devoted amateur astronomer and astroimager...

Planetary scientist Alan Stern has a name familiar to readers of Astronomy for a long, long time. He’s long been a contributor and a member of the magazine’s editorial advisory board. He has been involved in many space missions, such as the...

In the January Astronomy , I published a short essay about the possible commonness of civilizations in the universe. That opened up a landslide of emails from interested readers, and I wanted to share a few of the comments with you here. My story (on...

Over the weekend, I had the chance to visit a spectacular museum, the Teylers Museum in Haarlem, the Netherlands. Located a short 15-minute train ride west of Amsterdam, the museum should be on the list of anyone who loves stepping back into the scientific...