Here’s an “extra” for those of you who saw the nice conjunction December 1 featuring Venus, Jupiter, and the crescent Moon. Amateur astronomer Ian Sharp, who lives in Ham, England, just sent me two videos . The first shows the Moon (you can’t really see it, but trust me, it’s there) covering the shimmering disk of Venus. The second video shows Venus reappearing from behind the Moon’s edge. Astronomers call such an event an occultation. In this case...

Here is the transcript for my podcast about how to see the Venus and Mars, open cluster M38, and spiral galaxy NGC 1365 . 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 Senior Editor Michael Bakich spoke with a reporter from TechNewsWorld about the upcoming Mercury flyby. Read Michael's comments and learn more about the flyby in "NASA Craft to Make Second, Closer Swing Past Mercury" . We've put together a nice package that includes a preview of the flyby, various news from MESSENGER's mission so far, a blog wrap-up, and podcasts: MESSENGER's second Mercury flyby .