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 • Though Jupiter took the hit, we felt the impact here on Earth

Sky at Night – lots of ways to enjoy the night sky…

This month's contributors

FREE BONUS CONTENT • Find it at www.skyatnightmagazine.com/bonus-content

ANOTHER FINE MESSIER • Detective of the dark Universe gets on the case with the delivery of its first science images

Gas caught plunging to oblivion in a black hole • Material seen falling over edge towards event horizon at near lightspeed

Potential habitable planet found near Earth • The world may have liquid water on its surface

Universe's oldest stars found on our doorstep

NEWS IN BRIEF

Can NASA return samples from Mars? • The agency is seeking novel ideas to return Perseverance's samples to Earth

A stormy week for the Sun • A highly active spot on the Sun generated the biggest flares in years

NEWS IN BRIEF

Asteroid linked to crater on the Moon • Kamo‘oalewa is a quasi-moon, temporarily in orbit around Earth

Has dark matter's great rival been defeated?

Comets rain metal on dead stars • A galactic tide could be pushing comets into collisions with white dwarfs

Hunting dark matter in a Yorkshire mine • A new experiment may be our last attempt to directly detect dark matter

INSIDE THE SKY AT NIGHT • Hot on the heels of her appearance on this month's The Sky at Night, Olivia Jones tells us how she used JWST to end the 40-year hunt for the heart of a supernova

Looking back: The Sky at Night • 3 July 1983

INTERACTIVE

Astro adventures

ON FACEBOOK

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

BBC Sky at Night

WHAT'S ON

PICK OF THE MONTH

Pennies from the heavens • Jonathan Powell tots up the coins that have marked major celestial events in history

Mission into the UNKNOWN • For the last 18 years, New Horizons has been flying to Pluto and beyond. But how do scientists run a mission at the darkest, uncharted fringes of our Solar System? Ezzy Pearson finds out

The Kuiper Belt • Our Solar System is surrounded by a ring of icy space rocks

A tale of two fly-bys • New Horizons has been travelling through space for the last 18 years

Impact on Jupiter the 30th anniversary of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 • In summer 1994, planet Earth watched as a series of giant space rocks slammed into Jupiter. Katrin Raynor reflects on this pivotal moment and what it meant for the defence of our planet from future impacts

10 biggest impacts in the Solar System • Planet Earth has escaped the largest confirmed strikes in the Solar System

What is the chance of an asteroid hitting Earth? • The larger space rocks get, the less often they impact

Ready for space Meet Rosemary Coogan, Britain's next astronaut • At the graduation ceremony for ESA's newest astronaut class, Nick Spall caught up with the next UK citizen heading for space

The Sky Guide • JULY 2024

JULY HIGHLIGHTS • Your guide to the night sky this month

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

A morning gathering DON'T MISS • THE BIG THREE The top sights to observe or image this month

It's time to see the thin Moon • BEST TIME TO SEE: 5 July, approximately 40 minutes before sunrise or 6 July, approximately 30 minutes after sunset

Noctilucent cloud...