SUNSET: 
Predawn Treats for Early Risers
If you can get yourself out of bed early, spectacular predawn vistas await your eyes, binoculars, and telescope over the next week.
Why Higgs Discovery Deserves the Hype
Physicists using the Large Hadron Collider announced yesterday their discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson. The find was expected, but it's still a big deal.
Baby Star's Hot Birthmarks
Astronomers have pinpointed the origin of high-energy X-rays coming from a baby star.
Dark-Matter Thread Revealed
Scientists have found a dark-matter filament, a strand of the cosmic web that connects clusters of galaxies. It's the first time an individual filament has been detected and is among our first observational glimpses of the universe’s largest structures.
Titan's Latest Twist: A Hidden Ocean
Saturn's biggest moon already boasts a dense atmosphere, vast dune fields, and lakes full of hydrocarbons. Now scientists have evidence for a deep ocean beneath its icy crust.
Waves Might Heat Solar Atmosphere
Astronomers are working to unravel the mystery of the Sun's superhot corona, but new work implicating magnetic waves isn't the final word on the matter.
B612 Debuts Its Asteroid-Seeking Sentinel
Astronomers warn that it's not a question of "if" Earth will be hit by an asteroid, but "when." If a private group of space veterans has its way, a Sun-orbiting spacecraft will find threatening objects decades before they can strike us.
A Glitch in Time
On June 30, 2012, the world's official timekeepers will add a leap second for the first time in 3½ years.
Possible Nova in Sagittarius
If you've got a clear, dark view toward the southern horizon, try your hand at spotting a flaring star that has brightened to near 9th magnitude in northwest Sagittarius.
Seeing Exoplanets in a New Light
Researchers have devised a way to peek at the atmospheres of non-transiting exoplanets. The method may prove to be a valuable tool in astronomers' efforts to characterize planets outside our solar system.
How to Grow a Supermassive Black Hole
A new study says most black holes may grow by snacking instead of collision-induced feeding frenzies.
Let the Star Parties Begin!
Want to gaze at the Milky Way all night or peer into the eyepiece of a 12-inch telescope? Escape the city lights and head for the nearest big amateur nighttime gathering.
Wanted: A Little Common (Sky) Sense
When it comes to things astronomical, why do so many people with no knowledge of the sky try to figure things out for themselves — and come to the wrong conclusions?
Tour August's Sky! | June 22nd, 2012
Mark your calendars for the night of Saturday, August 11th, when the Perseid meteor shower will peak. Stay up late to catch the risings of Jupiter and Venus, or just enjoy Mars and Saturn low in the evening twilight.
A Great Transit Trip to Hawaii
Editor in Chief Robert Naeye looks back on S&T's tour to the friendly islands of Hawaii to see the transit of Venus.
Sky & Telescope August 2012
Sky & Telescope's August 2012 issue is now available to digital subscribers. Some print subscribers may have already received it, and it's officially on-sale at newsstands starting July 3rd.
A Windy Early Universe
Winds in the early universe could make radio observations of the first stars and galaxies a little easier, says a new study published in Nature.
Little Scope Makes Big Finds
Scientists using the diminutive KELT North telescope have discovered two extrasolar planets, one of which is unlike anything yet seen. The finding provides researchers with raw material to study exoplanets, but it also demonstrates that sometimes, the little guys can still win big.
Titan's Tropical "Oases"
With a surface temperature hundreds of degrees below zero, Saturn's biggest moon is hardly a vacation paradise. But new Cassini results suggest that future visitors might be able to splash around in some liquid-methane lakes near Titan's equator.
The Universe’s Lost Lithium
Astronomers are still struggling with a 30-year-old mystery that puts modern cosmology in a head-to-head clash with stellar observations. A new study may make the problem even worse.
