SUNSET: 
Opportunity Takes a Bow, Gets Some Rest
It's been eight years since NASA dropped twin rovers onto the Martian surface. Spirit succumbed to the planet's harsh conditions in 2010, but Opportunity continues to amaze mission scientists with its longevity and scientific productivity.
Ancient Astronomers Were No Fools
A study of historical star catalogs has turned up a surprising result: long-gone stargazers knew that the stellar magnitudes they observed needed correcting — but the correction is for an atmospheric effect scientists didn’t quantify until the 1700s.
Eclipses in 2012
This year features two "central" eclipses of the Sun: an annular in May (visible from western U.S. states) and a total in November that you'll have to travel to Australia or the South Pacific to see.
Norman Edmund, Optics Entrepreneur
His company got its start with the military surplus optics that flooded the marketplace right after World War II. Ever since, Edmund Scientific (now Edmund Optics) has inspired generations of budding astronomers.
Tim Puckett's Award-Winning Ambition
Tim Puckett has been studying comets and finding supernovae with his home-built telescopes since the 1990s. Now the American Astronomical Society has recognized his dedication with the 2012 Chambliss Amateur Achievement Award.
A Bold Plan to Study Dark Energy
Beginning later this year, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment will begin to analyze the spectra of one million primordial galaxies — and, its designers hope, get some answers about the mysterious force that's accelerating the expansion of the universe.
Sky at a Glance | January 20th, 2012
Jupiter is shrinking, Mars is growing, Orion stands high, and the waxing crescent Moon will soon pass Venus.
An Evaporating Exoplanet?
Brief, variable dips in the light from a low-mass star have left astronomers wondering what strange object could be periodically blocking the starlight. Their hypothesis? A closely-orbiting planet is disintegrating before their eyes.
Vast New Trove of Variable Stars
Newly online: light curves for 198 million stars. The latest great mass of variable-star data comes from the Catalina Sky Survey — which is actually looking for asteroids.
Make the Effort for "Globe at Night"
This week you can join a worldwide campaign to measure the darkness of night skies everywhere. It's a fun, easy, and worthwhile activity for you and your family.
Sky & Telescope June 2012
Sky & Telescope's June 2012 issue is now available to digital subscribers.
Sky & Telescope July 2012
Sky & Telescope's July 2012 issue is now available to digital subscribers.
Sky & Telescope April 2012
Sky & Telescope's April 2012 issue is now available to digital subscribers.
Sky & Telescope March 2012
Sky & Telescope's March 2012 issue is now available to digital subscribers.
Sky at a Glance | January 13th, 2012
Venus and Jupiter slowly draw toward each other. The Winter Hexagon looms large over the evening world. And the waning Moon shines in early dawn.
A Rare Flyby of Asteroid Eros
The grandaddy of near-Earth asteroids brightens to magnitude 8.6 as it flies by Earth in late January and early February.
Farewell to Rossi's Explorer
Last week, NASA engineers reluctantly shut down the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, a largely unheralded orbiting outpost that relayed a steady stream of observations for 16 years.
January 23- 29, 2012
[skyweekvid id="z8163246"]Learn how Perseus rescued Andromeda, and find out how and why Queen Cassiopeia is doomed to rotate forever in the sky.
January 16 - 22, 2012
[skyweekvid id="kdh4xx72"]The constellations Perseus, Cassiopeia, and Andromeda are linked together in the sky, and in Greek mythology.
