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 • Like our ancestors, we're still making pilgrimages to the Sun

This month's contributors

HERE BE DRAGONS • Secrets of the Dragon's Egg Nebula revealed

A new star in the Northern Crown • The star will become one of the brightest in the sky – but only for a few days

Dark stars could leave scars across the cosmos • Stars made of dark matter may solve astronomy's biggest mystery

Winchcombe meteorite violent history revealed

NEWS IN BRIEF

Voyager 1 is back online and exploring the unknown • An interstellar rescue brings the venerable spacecraft back after months out of action

The biggest 3D map of the Universe is taking shape • The model will help settle puzzle of how fast the Universe is expanding

NEWS IN BRIEF

Greatest-ever gravitational wave search is back on • Instrument upgrades had put LIGO and Virgo on hold

Brit astronaut Rosemary Coogan graduates

Sailing on a laser beam • Light sails may not require onboard fuel, but need support to venture away from the Sun

Unearthing galaxies in the archives • Comparing old Hubble data to today is revealing distant active galaxies

INSIDE THE SKY AT NIGHT • How do you build a 144-metre Sun-scope in space? Following her appearance on May's episode of The Sky at Night, Marie Beeckman tells us how PROBA-3 will work

Looking back: The Sky at Night 2 June 1979

INTERACTIVE • Email us at inbox@skyatnightmagazine.com

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

BBC Sky at Night

WHAT'S ON

When Haydn met the Herschels • Jonathan Powell on how the astronomer siblings inspired the famous composer

Surfing spacetime with LISA • A new era of gravitational wave astronomy is on its way as the ambitious upcoming LISA space mission joins a host of huge detectors on Earth. Charlie Hoy explains

How to catch a gravitational wave • Astronomers use lasers to detect when a gravitational wave passes by

Helping to solve cosmology's biggest problem • Gravitational waves could unlock the secret of our Universe's expansion

Stones of the SOLSTICE • Jamie Carter explores 12 ancient stones, tombs and temples across the world that align with the Sun at the solstice

Cosmic rays • In part two of our series, Govert Schilling looks at cosmic rays, the high-energy particles that bombard Earth from space

Travel restrictions • Some particles are so energetic, it can stop them from travelling

The Sky Guide • JUNE 2024

JUNE HIGHLIGHTS • Your guide to the night sky this month

NEED TO KNOW • The terms and symbols used in The Sky Guide

Noctilucent cloud season • The top sights to observe or image this month

C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS update

Mercury and Jupiter in conjunction

THE PLANETS • Our celestial neighbourhood in June

The planets in June • The phase and relative sizes of the planets this month. Each planet is shown with south at the top, to show its orientation through a telescope

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

MOONWATCH • June's top lunar feature to observe

COMETS AND ASTEROIDS • Dwarf planet Ceres passes low, heading to the Teapot

STAR OF THE MONTH • Seginus, shoulder of the Huntsman

BINOCULAR TOUR • Join our polar...