SUNSET: 
40Sky & Telescope delivers high-quality, curated content into the hands of all who are interested in the science and hobby of astronomy.
Since 1941, we’ve been doing just that — delivering a print magazine to our subscribers and readers each month featuring in-depth articles covering the science, history, and observational aspect of astronomy; star charts and other observing tools; reviews of equipment; and so much more. With the rise of the internet, we also started to deliver our content online, and over time, more and more folk visit our website. When something exciting happens in the sky, even larger numbers of curious visitors come to our website seeking trustworthy and engaging content.
We have now reached a point where, in order to continue producing the valuable information our readers treasure, we must introduce a paywall. In a week or two, our paywall will go live. We will still provide some content for free, but the number of articles you can access each month will be limited.
However, if you subscribe, you’ll get access not only to all of our online content, but also to the digital version of the magazine! If you’re already a subscriber, you don’t need to worry — you’ll have full access to the content on the website. (You'll need to connect your subscriber account to a website account to get access; register here. Once registered, you can log in for full access.)
We know some of our online-content consumers who are not subscribers will be disappointed with this decision. When our favorite magazines and newspapers made this change, we were initially disappointed too. But having access to great content is invaluable — supporting those who create the content ensures it continues to be available.
Sky & Telescope has been around for more than 80 years, and we aren’t going anywhere. Making this change now will help us continue bringing you the content you so value for the next 80 years.
Thank you for your readership. Thank you for being a loyal subscriber. Thank you for becoming a subscriber. And thank you for being a member of the vibrant community of those fascinated by this wonderful universe we find ourselves in.
Kevin B. Marvel, Publisher Diana Hannikainen, Editor in Chief
Comments
James Cobb
August 29, 2025 at 7:41 pm
The emails announcing this look so much like spam that I was put off. The email return address and the links looked suspicious.
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Monica Young
September 2, 2025 at 10:38 am
Dear James, the emails are being sent out by Omeda, our magazine fulfillment partner. I apologize that they looked like spam, but I can assure you that they are legit.
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Ralph-Pass
August 30, 2025 at 10:05 am
The change is confusing. I get to a point where I want to have articles sent to my mail box but get to a screen:
GET ARTICLES LIKE THIS SENT TO YOUR INBOX
✕Failed reCAPTCHA check
Note that I have been a subscriber since January, 1961
Ralph Pass
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Monica Young
September 2, 2025 at 10:37 am
Dear Ralph, I apologize for the Captcha error. Our IT team is working to fix that error and should hopefully have it resolved soon!
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Josh77
August 30, 2025 at 10:46 am
It will be a website-articles-only subscription ?
The magazine is too long for me, I don't have time to read it all.
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Monica Young
August 31, 2025 at 4:24 pm
The subscription ($29) gets you both full access to the website as well as a digital subscription to the magazine.
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[email protected]
September 1, 2025 at 8:27 am
Is there a link for the $29 subscription? When I use the "subscribe" and "renew" links on this page, the prices listed are higher with no $29 option that I can find.
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Monica Young
September 2, 2025 at 10:32 am
The paywall launched today, September 2nd. As of today, you should see a red subscribe button pop up as you navigate our website; that subscribe button will link to the $29 offer.
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CaptainKoloth
August 30, 2025 at 11:54 am
Well, guess I'm done here then. I'll find another news source.
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Dave Gray
August 30, 2025 at 1:33 pm
Will the pop-up ads be removed? Also if the subscription is made through the AAS will it include access to web content?
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Monica Young
September 2, 2025 at 10:37 am
Hi Dave, I will note your desire to remove the pop-up ads, thanks! Yes, if your subscription is through the AAS, that includes access to web content. You will need to register your website account, though, if you haven't already.
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Spence
August 30, 2025 at 5:35 pm
I do not mind a paywall to support original online content, but not for simple reworkings of taxpayer-funded articles from sites like NASA.gov nor of articles freely available to the public from educational institutions.
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Spence
August 30, 2025 at 5:46 pm
I would also like the option of an ad-free tier.
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Monica Young
August 31, 2025 at 4:25 pm
The subscription gets you full access to the skyandtelescope.org website as well as full access to our digital issue. Almost all of our online articles are science journalism with interviews of the authors of the article and/or outside experts who know the field but are not associated with the work. We do occasionally point readers to neat new images from the space world. I will pass along your request for an ad-free tier option, thanks!
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[email protected]
August 31, 2025 at 5:10 am
As a subscriber, I find the requirement to turn off ad blockers to visit the website to be incredibly annoying. I've been reading Sky and Telescope for about 50 years, either buying it at the newsstand or as a digital subscriber, and I will not use the website if I'm constantly interrupted with useless ads. Coach handbags on an astronomy site? I guess I will download the magazine each month and otherwise avoid the website. I'm very disappointed with this change and will think carefully before renewing my subscription next time.
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[email protected]
August 31, 2025 at 8:05 am
I got the link to register, filled in my email and password. It brought me to the homepage. But there’s nothing that says my registration was successful. I also keep getting emails telling me to register. Something is not working with this registration process.
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Ernie-Jacobs
August 31, 2025 at 9:23 am
Same here.
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Christopher-McDonnell
August 31, 2025 at 12:09 pm
The same with me. Out of Frustration I used a second Email,
Got the same response (Nothing)
And probably threw a wrench in the spokes.
Who knows now if either will work ?
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Monica Young
August 31, 2025 at 4:33 pm
If you are having problems with the registration, please call 800-253-0245 or email the helpdesk at [email protected].
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Jack-Frillman
September 7, 2025 at 6:56 am
Didn't work for me either.
I had to call support to get it resolved.
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[email protected]
August 31, 2025 at 10:44 am
Ditto here too--tried to "register" today, filled in my email and choose a password--tried the same one I've used for a few years now when first opened an online account with S&T, which apparently was successful, then clicked on I'm not a robot, and it also took me to your homepage with no indication that I was now "registered". So are we supposed to get something saying we're now registered, or what??
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Monica Young
August 31, 2025 at 4:33 pm
If you are having problems with the registration, please call 800-253-0245 or email the helpdesk at [email protected].
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[email protected]
August 31, 2025 at 10:52 am
Same here
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Monica Young
August 31, 2025 at 4:34 pm
If you are having problems with the registration, please call 800-253-0245 or email the helpdesk at [email protected].
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Mike-Gore
August 31, 2025 at 3:31 pm
Comment - I have been a subscription member of Sky and Telescope for 50 years. I would very much prefer to have add free content otherwise I likely will stop using online content
PS your registration page is broken as others have reported
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[email protected]
August 31, 2025 at 4:52 pm
While I'm fine with the decision, my preference would be that ALL content posted on S&T.org before September 1, 2025 is available so that non-subscribers still have access to the last 10+ years of Bob King's wonderful blog "Explore the Night with Bob King". I'm constantly rereading his articles!!
Scott H.
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Monica Young
September 2, 2025 at 10:26 am
Dear Scott, I'm so glad you're enjoying Bob King's articles! Unfortunately, we're paywalling almost all website content, with exceptions for things like pages related to navigation as well as the online photo gallery (which contains user-submitted photos). We hope that readers will be willing to subscribe to receive access to all of the excellent information Bob King has provided over the years!
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John Schnupp
August 31, 2025 at 10:56 pm
The one thing that I find incredibly annoying with the web/digital Sky&Telescope version is that the reader is very poor. The problem is that for comfortable reading (yeah, I'm getting older and my eyes are not as good as they used to be) I need to zoom in. The reader handles that well enough, but the real problem is that once zoomed in, there is constant scrolling up/down left/right just to read an article or see the pictures. Talk about a PITA. Diana, Kevin and Monica, someday you will be old and need extra magnification for reading...and then you see what I mean. A lot of your current digital and web content leaves a lot to be desired for those need visual assistance or have visual impairments.
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Monica Young
September 2, 2025 at 10:25 am
Dear John, I'm sorry that you're having trouble with scrolling on the zoomed-in view. Unfortunately, our digital issue is still available only in a PDF format. It sounds like what you'd like is reflowable text, but unfortunately our limited resources do not yet allow us to offer that option. I apologize that we can't offer a better option for you right now.
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Stefan-Beck
September 1, 2025 at 8:19 am
Hello,
I'm a long time subscriber and I can understand that you introduce a paywall.
But what I don't like is that you track me even when I want to read you Privacy Policy from the mail newsletter.
Why do you link to https://rhpiczrab.cc.rs6.net/ ?
What is http://olytics.omeda.com/ ?
P.S. http is old.
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Monica Young
September 2, 2025 at 10:23 am
Dear Stefan, where are you seeing those URLs?
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Stefan-Beck
September 20, 2025 at 2:56 pm
Hello Monica,
my network filter "Pihole" shows all URLs and blocks a lot of them.
Also uBlock Origin.
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Michael -Cardoza
September 2, 2025 at 6:02 pm
I get that this is something that is needed. I am more of a hardcopy reader but I do dip into the site a few times a week. I think for the health of the publication this makes a lot of sense. I hope this allows you to keep funding this important resource.
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krilson
September 2, 2025 at 8:53 pm
I haven't received the print edition in some months. Has it been discontinued?
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Monica Young
September 3, 2025 at 9:54 am
Absolutely not! We have no plans to discontinue our print issue. Please contact Omeda, our fulfillment partner, at [email protected] with your account information and hopefully they can get your subscription sorted out for you.
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Andrew James
September 8, 2025 at 5:03 am
Goodbye. I'm done here and I'll find another news source. Pity.
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Marie
January 1, 2026 at 7:29 pm
I phoned to find out if the interactive sky chart was no longer going to be free and to get more information. The person I spoke to was extremely confused and unhelpful. Not the way to get people to pay for a service.
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Monica Young
January 2, 2026 at 10:38 am
Dear Marie, I'm sorry to hear that the customer service representative was confused by your question. The interactive sky chart is included in our website and is thus behind the paywall along with all of our other content. You'll get three free pageviews, but after that you'll see the paywall when accessing our content. I hope you've found the sky chart and our other content valuable enough to subscribe!
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Mark James
January 31, 2026 at 4:36 am
Many people have asked about an ad-free option. Was this ever considered? The free articles that you allow non-subscribers to read are so choked with ads that potential subscribers (like myself) are put off; no other respectable publication uses such obtrusive advertising. I'd happily pay for an ad-free subscription, or at least one that uses a less annoying advertising technique than your free articles use. Is this an option?
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Monica Young
February 2, 2026 at 12:49 pm
Hi Mark, Thanks for sharing your feedback! We don't offer an ad-free tier version at the moment, though we hope to make that happen in the future if we're able to expand our subscribership enough.
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