SUNSET: 
Sir Patrick Moore, 1923-2012
Britain's celebrated skywatcher and night-sky popularizer, synonymous with astronomy worldwide, died peacefully on Sunday at age 89.
Sky at a Glance | December 7th, 2012
Lots happening this week! The Geminid meteor shower, a flyby of Toutatis, Vesta at opposition with Ceres nearby, and more.
“Sky-Is-Falling” Asteroid Flies By
The Earth-crossing asteroid 4179 Toutatis is making one of its close flybys, gliding among the stars and awaiting your telescope. Its magnitude will be 10.9 to 10.5 from December 11th through 14th.
Spacetime Ripples on the Horizon?
Scientists might be closer to detecting one prediction of Einstein's theory of gravity than they thought they were.
Geminid Meteors to Peak the Night of Dec. 13th
If it’s clear late Thursday night, December 13th, keep a lookout overhead for meteors of the Geminid shower.
Gravity Probes "See" Deep Lunar Secrets
Just by circling the Moon every 2 hours while keeping hyper-accurate track of each other's motions, twin spacecraft named Ebb and Flow have mapped the lunar gravity field in unprecedented detail — and opened a window on the Moon's ancient, battered interior.
Tour Jupiter with Our Newest App
Jupiter reigns big and beautiful over December's sky. Now you can take our newest app with you as a guide to Jupiter's moons, Great Red Spot, and more.
Geminid Meteor Shower Coming on December 13-14
If it’s clear late Thursday night, December 13th, 2012, keep a lookout high overhead for the shooting stars of the Geminid meteor shower.
Making Planets Around Brown Dwarfs
Astronomers searching for forming planets have a new place to look. Even the thin disks around brown dwarfs are capable of forming grains large enough that, one day, they could potentially coalesce into a rocky planet.
Van Allen Probes Peek at Radiation Belts
The twin Van Allen Probes have only been spaceborne for 60 days, but they’ve already returned heaps of data about the radiation belts, whose "killer electrons" endanger satellites.
Voyager's On-ramp to Interstellar Space
Now more than 11 billion miles from home, NASA's long-lived interplanetary probe is immersed in a flow of particles coming directly from beyond the heliosphere — an experience that mission scientists have hoped for since the 1970s.
Curiosity Gets a Whiff of Organic Matter
When NASA's newest rover cooked up its first samples of Martian soil, one instrument reported finding traces of organic molecules. But they're probably false alarms, say mission scientists.
The Basics of Meteor Observing
Here are a few hints to enhance your meteor-watching experience.
Advanced Meteor Observing
Meteor studies have relied heavily on amateur observers for more than a century. They still do. Here are some tips and suggestions on how to plan a meteor watch.
Product Videos & Demonstrations
Apogee Imaging Systems at AIC 2012
Tony Flanders S&T senior editor Dennis di Cicco and Apogee Imaging Systems’ Wayne Brown talk about the company’s new Aspen CCD cameras, as well as recent improvements made to other cameras and filter wheels. Return to the Advanced Imaging Conference 2012 page. Return to our Product Videos page.
Tour December's Sky! | November 30th, 2012
Mars lurks low in the west after sunset, just as Jupiter rises dramatically in the east. Meanwhile, a mythic tale unfolds among the stars and constellations overhead.
Sky at a Glance | November 30th, 2012
The Moon is waning out of the evening sky. Jupiter is passing 5° north of Aldebaran. Low in the dawn, Mercury has emerged to align with Venus and Saturn in a diagonal row.
Advanced Imaging Conference 2012
Watch Dennis di Cicco's recent interview with Apogee Imaging Systems’ president Wayne Brown at the 2012 Advanced Imaging Conference.
A Big Black Hole in a Small Galactic Pond
A record-breaking black hole lurking at the center of a compact galaxy weighs about 17 billion Suns, a new study finds. Now astronomers are wondering: how did such a small galaxy come to harbor a leviathan?
Mercury's Polar Ice Defies the Odds
Today scientists confirmed a suspicion raised some 20 years ago: despite all logic to the contrary, the hellish planet Mercury is hiding substantial deposits of water ice in its polar regions.
