Here is the transcript for my podcast about how to see the constellation Lacerta, Pinwheel Galaxy, and Mirach's Ghost . Check out the Astronomy.com's interactive star chart to see an accurate map of your sky. It'll help you locate some of this week's key targets. Astronomy magazine subscribers have access to a slew of cool functions with StarDome PLUS. --Start transcript-- Hello, I’m Astronomy magazine senior editor Michael Bakich...

Astronomy magazine Editor David J. Eicher (pictured blogging from the road at right) and Senior Editor Michael Bakich returned from their trip to Arizona Sky Village earlier this week. Now that they're back, we're uploading videos they took while at ASV. The first of the videos is up on Astronomy.com. Check it out! We'll be posting more clips in the coming days. And in case you missed them earlier, you can find out more about their trip...

I recently received a telephone call from a jazz musician, Michael Roach. He explained to me that he and the other members of the trio TEN27 have created seven original compositions inspired by astronomy and cosmology. As it turns out, a news article I wrote about the galaxy I Zwicky 18 for the February 2008 issue inspired one of their songs. The trio is holding an event this week called " The Black Book Project ." It is a multimedia-live...

Paul Atkinson filed his third report from the 2008 Chiefland Star Party. Take it away, Paul! Monday night was pretty cold for Florida, and an unexpected cold front pushed through. The sky was clear, and the humidity all but disappeared. The seeing degraded from the front blowing through, and it caused the stars to dance quite a bit. On the field, the die-hard imagers continued while others decided to use the night to observe visually. A tripod with...

Earlier today, planetary scientists discussed preliminary findings from the MESSENGER spacecraft’s second flyby of Mercury. The October 6 encounter revealed about 30 percent of the planet previously unseen by spacecraft — an area larger than South America. MIT researcher Maria Zuber spoke about results from the laser altimeter used to measure topography. Her biggest surprise: The thin strip of area surveyed seen during the January flyby. Brian Anderson...

Are you good with statistics and interested in cosmology? Well, astronomers have issued a challenge to aid in the understanding of dark matter and dark energy — the mysterious stuff that makes up roughly 95 percent of our universe. Thirty-eight astronomers from 19 international institutions are issuing this challenge, called the GRavitational lEnsing Accuracy Testing 2008 ( GREAT08 ). Neither dark matter nor dark energy is directly visible — both...

The final day in New Mexico and Arizona, traveling to the Arizona Sky Village (ASV) with Senior Editor Michael Bakich, was terrific. We enjoyed the hospitality of ASV founder Gene Turner and his girlfriend Loy Guzman, and we visited with an array of observers who spend time at the site. What a wonderful time we had as guests of David and Cathy Johnson at their home near Playas, New Mexico. Afterward, we readied for our third night of observing with...

Now that the December issue has been mailed out, we’ve updated Astronomy.com with our newest Web extras that give subscribers complementary information to the articles in the magazine. This month, we have a cool video of some extreme organisms; some great images of both land and sky from Athens, Greece; and an in-depth look at an image from “Reader gallery.” If you subscribe to Astronomy , make sure you’re registered with Astronomy.com so you can...

Paul Atkinson sent us another report from the 2008 Chiefland Star Party. Thanks, Paul! Live from Chiefland Star Party 2008, here is the on-field report for Sunday night’s observing and Monday’s activities. Sunday night was an awesome observing experience. The site was abuzz with lots of activity right from dusk with reports of multiple attendees going until 5 a.m. or later! The seeing just seemed to get better as the night progressed. Estimations...

In addition to Astronomy magazine Editor David J. Eicher's reports from his trip to Arizona Sky Village with Senior Editor Michael Bakich, we're also privileged to have updates from the 2008 Chiefland Star Party , in Chiefland, Florida. Chiefland Astronomy Village (CAV) hosts this star party. Like Arizona Sky Village, CAV is an astronomy-friendly community. According to its web site, "The Chiefland Astronomy Village is basically an astronomical...