SUNSET: 
Quadrantid Meteors Ring in 2014
Start the new year right by viewing an excellent but short-lived meteor shower, called the Quadrantids, which peaks on Friday, January 3rd.
Mapping the Milky Way's Arms
Astronomers continue to debate whether our home galaxy has big arms and some smaller appendages — or, as new results suggest, four major arms.
New Telescope? Learn How to Use a Telescope and See Amazing Sights
Thousands of telescopes are given and received as gifts during the holidays. But once you've assembled your new treasure, then what? The editors of Sky & Telescope show you where to look first.
New Cutoff for Star Sizes
Astronomers have found a size gap between stars that fuse hydrogen in their cores and so-called failed stars, which never muster the ability to sustain fusion. This boundary could help observers precisely identify the smallest stellar citizens.
Watch a Mesmerizing Light Show
The gossamer veil of reflective dust surrounding the star RS Puppis reflects its flickering light in a fantastic display.
Putting Exoplanets on the Scale
Astronomers have come up with a new technique for measuring an alien planet’s mass, and therefore its composition and potential habitability, even when standard methods don’t work.
Gaia Launches to Pinpoint a Billion Stars
Gaia launched flawlessly Thursday morning at 9:12 UTC (4:12 a.m. Eastern Standard Time). This long-awaited mission will precisely map the distances and motions of 1 billion stars in our galaxy.
See Venus's Thin Crescent
Venus usually appears pretty boring through a telescope. But from mid-December to mid-February it's a spectacularly long, thin crescent.
The Crab's Surprise Molecule
Astronomers have identified a molecule containing the noble gas argon in the Crab Nebula. It's the first such molecule detected in space and confirms predictions of where a certain argon isotope is created in the cosmos.
Chang'e 3 Brings Rover to Lunar Surface
For the first time since 1976, a spacecraft has landed safely on the Moon. Within hours, the Chinese spacecraft Chang'e 3 had deployed an instrumented rover.
Last Chance to Enter S&T's Comet ISON Photo Contest
The "comet of the century" famously lost its battle against the Sun, but you can still enter our photo contest for a chance to win some hefty prizes. Don't miss the December 31st deadline!
Curiosity Finds a Once-Habitable Mars
Ancient Mars seems to have had all the necessities as a comfy habitat for microbial life.
Hubble Homes in on Hazy Worlds
Two teams have announced the discovery of water on alien worlds. But they found less water than expected, suggesting these planets are surrounded by a high-altitude haze.
Plumes on Europa
New Hubble Space Telescope observations provide the best evidence yet that Jupiter's icy moon spits out water vapor from its surface. If real, such plumes could reach more than 100 miles above the little world's surface and rain down an extraterrestrial form of snow.
Comet ISON: What We've Learned
Comet ISON's untimely demise didn’t prevent scientists from studying it, revealing the comet to be smaller than previously thought and harboring high concentrations of carbon.
A Double Black Hole?
Strange emission from a distant galaxy paints an enigmatic picture of what’s happening inside its core. One solution: instead of one supermassive black hole, the galaxy hosts two trapped in a tight dance around each other.
New View of Saturn's Hexagon
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured phenomenal images of the gigantic weather system at Saturn's north pole. This so-called "hexagon" is nearly three times wider than Earth is.
An Outburst of Andromedid Meteors
Astronomers report that a nearly forgotten meteor shower — famous for its prodigious "storm" in 1872 but long since inactive — has displayed surprising activity.
Geminid Meteors to Pierce the Moonlight
Bits of rock from a fried asteroid flash across the night sky in the mid-December sky — but bright moonlight will diminish the performance.
Tour Chile with S&T!
Join Sky & Telescope as we travel to Chile, the "astronomy capital of the world." From March 27th to April 4th, 2014, we'll visit world-class observatories, see breathtaking landscapes, and observe in crystal-clear night skies.
