SUNSET: 
A Meteorite Lights up the Lunar Night
Astronomers have witnessed the largest lunar impact to date. With an impact energy equivalent to 15 tons of TNT — approximately 3 times as great as the previous record-holder — the flash was visible even to the naked-eye.
Mapping a Supernova's Radioactive Glow
A radioactive element produced near the heart of collapsing stars hints at the mechanism behind Cassiopeia A’s supernova explosion.
Pesky Problems for Lunar Reflectors
For more than 40 years, astronomers have been firing lasers at specially-designed reflectors left on the lunar surface. But over time they've gotten dusty — and especially finicky whenever there's a full Moon.
The Purest Star Tells an Ancient Tale
Astronomers have discovered the purest star to date. Composed almost exclusively of hydrogen and helium — with 15 million times less iron than our Sun — it illuminates what happened among the first supernovae in the early universe.
Red Sky for Brown Dwarf
Astronomers have discovered a new “failed star” with unusually red, dusty skies. The dust makes the object look much younger than it actually is, complicating studies of this type of brown dwarf.
Supernova in M82 Passes Its Peak
Supernova 2014J, in the galaxy M82 in Ursa Major, peaked at magnitude 10.5 in early February and is now down to 11.2. Spot it with your telescope above the Big Dipper.
Hot White Dwarfs Show Planet Debris
Both hot and cool white dwarf stars can display the remains of destroyed planets polluting their atmospheres. There now appear to be two routes for this material to make its way in.
Unveiling Ganymede
Get an eyeful of the solar system’s largest moon — a world of ancient, crater-packed plains and broad swaths of younger grooved terrain that defies easy explanation.
Curiosity Navigates the Crossroads
NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory — Curiosity — has successfully crossed a sand dune standing between the rover and its final science destination.
New Splat on Mars
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE camera captured this stunning image of a fresh impact on the Martian surface.
Jean Texereau, Master Optician
In France, one of the giants of telescope making has died. He shared his years of professional experience with amateurs around the world.
Mixed Message from Asteroid Belt
New compositional map of the main asteroid belt shows that minor planets are not strongly grouped by composition, as had been thought, but instead are mixed up.
Shedding Light on Circumbinary Systems
Astronomers are beginning to understand the unlikely formation and dangerous survival of exoplanets circling binary stars.
How to See Jupiter: Big, Bright, and Beautiful
Jupiter, the King of Planets, is a captivating sight no matter how you look at it.
Ceres and Vesta in 2014
The two brightest asteroids are very close to each other in the sky in 2014, fitting in a single field of view through binoculars and some telescopes.
First Mercury Globe Now Available
Sky & Telescope announces the first-ever globe of Mercury, pieced together from the latest images taken by the Messenger spacecraft. It's now available on our online store!
Tour February's Sky! | February 1st, 2014
Jupiter is well up in the east as darkness falls, surrounded by a cohort of bright winter stars and constellations.
Mystery of the Missing Galaxy Clusters
Astronomers have counted up the number of galaxy clusters in the cosmos and found a problem: the number is much lower than they expected. What's going on?
Weather-Mapping a Brown Dwarf
Astronomers using a novel technique have mapped a brown dwarf's visible surface — even though they can't resolve the object in telescopes.
Sleep of Death for China's Lunar Rover?
Reports suggest that something went wrong as the Yutu rover prepared to hibernate through the long lunar night. The glitch could be the end of the little robot.
