SUNSET: 
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.
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.
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.
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.
New Supernova in Leo
Along with the usual galaxies, dark matter, and exoplanets, the American Astronomical Society's January meeting is abuzz with the discovery of a supernova by a team of amateurs. Astronomers are rushing to observe the explosion before it fades.
Eclipses in 2013
This year features two "central" eclipses of the Sun: an annular in May (visible from Australia and the South Pacific) and a "hybrid" (annular/total) in November that you'll have to travel to Africa to see.
Tour January's Sky! | December 30th, 2011
With every New Year, millions of us resolve to do something, anything, different or better in the coming year. So let's resolve to get outside and enjoy the night sky more. Venus, Jupiter, and a host of winter stars await you.
A Fine Year for the Icy Quads
One of the best — but briefest — annual meteor showers should be active in the hours before dawn on the morning of Wednesday, January 4th.
Meteor Showers in 2012
Sky & Telescope predicts that 2012's best meteor shower should be the Quadrantids in January, but this will also be a good year for the Perseids in August and the Geminids in December.
Comet Lovejoy Keeps on Giving
Its place in astronomical folklore already secure, having skirted very near the Sun and survived last week. But resilient Comet Lovejoy (C/2011 W3) is still strutting its stuff — with twin tails nearly 20° long — in predawn skies for observers in the Southern Hemisphere. It's even drawing a crowd aboard the International Space Station!
Geminids in the Moonlight
With an average of 100 meteors per hour radiating from near the bright star Castor, this end-of-the-calendar shower is usually one of the year’s best. However, this week's performance will be spoiled by a just-past-full Moon that rises not long after the radiant clears the northeastern horizon.
December 10th's Colorful Lunar Eclipse
The last total lunar eclipse for the next 2½ years was widely observed by skywatchers around the Pacific Rim.
Comet Lovejoy's Date With Destiny
Discovered in late November by a veteran Australian comet-hunter, C/2011 W3 is a kamikaze comet that will pass just 116,000 miles from the Sun on December 16th. Will it dazzle us as it falls inward? Will it survive its close brush with the Sun? Amateur astronomers worldwide are holding their collective breath!
Comet Garradd in Transition
A decently bright visitor from the solar system’s fringe has lingered in the evening sky for months. As it nears perihelion, Comet Garradd (C/2009 P1) will soon be seen better in northern morning skies before dawn.
Tour December's Sky! | November 26th, 2011
Venus lurks low in the western twilight after sunset. But after it gets good and dark, swing around to the east to see dazzling Jupiter, the King of Planets, amid a tower of brilliant early-winter stars that extends from the horizon to overhead.
Black Friday's Partial Solar Eclipse
On what's become the busiest shopping day of the year, a deep partial solar eclipse swept across the bottom of the world.
A Dawn Eclipse of the Moon
The Moon will become totally eclipsed for much of North America before sunrise on December 10th.
Mini-Asteroid Makes a House Call
You've probably heard by now about 2005 YU55. This quarter-mile-wide asteroid will coast past Earth on the night of November 8–9, shining at 11th magnitude and providing a rare opportunity for professional and amateur observers alike.
Tour November's Sky! | October 28th, 2011
With the return to Standard Time for North America and Europe, northern stargazers can catch some of the evening's offerings before dinnertime. Venus and Jupiter are planetary bookends at sunset, with Venus lurking low in the western twilight just as the King of Planets rises in the east.
Comet Elenin's Last Gasp
It was never going to be an "extinction-level" threat to Earth, but skygazers had hoped that Comet Elenin (C/2010 X1) would put on a decent show in October's predawn skies. In the end, however, it just went "poof".
