SUNSET: 
Young Stars Aren’t So Young
Astronomers age-dating the nearest large association of young stars have found that one subgroup may be twice as old as previously thought.
Sky & Telescope February 2012
Sky & Telescope's February 2012 issue is now available to digital subscribers.
Comet Lovejoy: A Solar Survivor
The odds were stacked against it, but a comet discovered just two weeks ago has passed just 116,000 miles from the Sun's surface and — like a celestial phoenix — reemerged into view. Here's the latest on what veteran observer John Bortle calls "one of the most extraordinary events in cometary history."
Black Hole Breakfast En Route
Astronomers have discovered a dusty, stretched-out cloud heading for the supermassive black hole lurking in the Milky Way's core. The blob could be the meal the beast needs to wake up for a bit from its slumber, if the cloud survives its incoming trip on the dining cart.
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.
Advanced Imaging Conference Videos
Videotaped interviews with vendors at the 2011 Advanced Imaging Conference are now available.
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.
Asteroids, Planets, and Moons, Oh My
This week’s meeting of the American Geophysical Union brought together a variety of interesting science results, from water on Mars to the Sun’s effect on the Moon’s surface. Here’s a selection of curiosities for your perusing pleasure.
Super Black Holes: New Records, If Real
This week astronomers announced the existence of two gargantuan black holes. The black holes may be the most massive ever directly measured — if further studies can validate them.
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!
Kepler Finds a Possibly Habitable World
The hits just keep on coming for NASA's Kepler spacecraft. Today mission scientists announced that they've identified a thousand more candidate planets around other stars. One is Kepler-22 b, a world somewhat larger than Earth where you likely could walk around in shirtsleeve temperatures.
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.
Voyagers Detect Missing Signal
The Voyager spacecraft have observed long-sought emission from the Milky Way while traveling through the outermost reaches of the Sun’s influence.
Sky & Telescope January 2012
Sky & Telescope's January 2012 issue is now available to digital subscribers.
“Sayonara” to Akari Space Telescope
Japanese ground controllers have pulled the plug on a little-known but highly productive space telesocpe that revealed the far-infrared universe as never before.
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.
Curiosity Heads for Mars
NASA's latest interplanetary mission seeks to put a one-ton rover on the Martian surface. With Saturday's picture-perfect launch, Curiosity is safely on its way.
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.
Another Origin for Cosmic Rays
Recent gamma-ray observations support the longstanding theory that superspeedy particles called cosmic rays have their origin in the havoc-ridden regions around young star clusters.
A Dawn Eclipse of the Moon
The Moon will become totally eclipsed for much of North America before sunrise on December 10th.
