SUNSET: 
Lunar Flash Doesn't Pan Out
A fresh-looking crater on the Moon seemed to confirm that a bright "impact" on the Moon was seen firsthand in 1953 — but new evidence proves otherwise.
Goodbye, Galileo
The intrepid Galileo orbiter has been shut down permanently awaiting its burial into Jupiter's atmopshere.
Britain's Sir Patrick Moore at 80
British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore celebrates his 80th birthday with the launch of his long-awaited autobiography. Michèle Brown, director of publishing for Contender Books, holds a copy of 80 Not Out.Courtesy Adrian R. Ashford. During a party held at the prestigious Athenaeum Club in London's Pall Mall on the evening…
Astro News Briefs: March 3–9
An earthquake rattles Bib Bear's solar scopes.
Large Sunspot Visible
After being nearly featureless for several weeks, the solar face now sports a large sunspot.
Catching Ancient Stardust
Tiny grains blown off from stars that existed before the solar system formed are sifting down all around us.
Astro News Briefs: February 24–March 2
ALMA radio telescope gets green light, and a Mars rover "lands" in Florida.
Astronomy & Observing News
Polar-Ice Puzzle", "bookmark_label" : "Clicked on Solving Mars's
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Solving Mars's
Polar-Ice Puzzle
Although scientists have long suspected that the south polar cap of Mars was a giant reservoir of water ice, they've only recently had the evidence to prove it.
Martian Gullies Revisited
The 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft captured this image showing Martian gullies and a 'pasted-on' feature that has been interpreted to be snow on the shadowed sides of the crater.Courtesy NASA/JPL/ASU. Mars Odyssey, the latest orbiter to map the red planet, is continuing to earn its stripes. In a recent paper…
Astro News Briefs: February 10–16
An "interior" asteroid a new solar space telescope.
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Mapping the Big Bang
Results from NASA's MAP satellite strengthen the new cosmology.
Winter Star Party '03: Sunshine, Starlight, and Sweat
Hundreds of astronomy enthusiasts gathered in the Florida Keys last week to socialize, shop, and observe.
Titan's "Great Lakes"
Recent radar probings reveal that much of Titan's southern hemisphere is covered by large bodies of liquid ethane and methane.
Beneath the Spiral
As seen through X-ray eyes, the spiral galaxy M83 is filled with diffuse hot glowing gas and pointlike binary star systems.Courtesy NASA/CXC/R.Soria and K.Wu. Buried deep within the spiral galaxy M83 is a dense and tumultuous star-making factory in a bagel-shaped volume around the galaxy's nucleus. The Chandra X-Ray Observatory…
Thank You!
Thank you for submitting your observing report to Sky & Telescope's AstroAlert service. If we have any questions about your data, we'll contact you by e-mail. Please note that at present we are interested only in reports following up a nearby-supernova alert. Observations in response to other types of alerts…
Astro News Briefs: February 3–9
California Amateur to Hunt for Exoplanets February 3, 2003 | A 52-year-old investment banker and venture capitalist from Newport Beach, California, will soon spend a night at Keck Observatory's control room in Hawaii as professional astronomers hunt for extrasolar planets. Walter W. Cruttenden won the seat by submitting the winning…
Space Shuttle Columbia Lost
Sky & Telescope sends our condolences to the families of the seven astronauts lost in the tragic break-up of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Do Globular Clusters Spit Out X-Ray Stars?
A new study suggests that a globular cluster spawned the night sky's brightest X-ray star.
Astro News Briefs: January 27–February 2
Solar Sentinel Heads to Orbit January 28, 2003 | An aircraft-launched Pegasus rocket lofted NASA’s Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) into orbit on January 25th. This 290-kilogram satellite carries four instruments to study minuscule variations in the Sun’s energy output and will be operated by the Laboratory for Atmospheric…
