SUNSET: 
NASA's InSight Lander Heads to Mars
Rising through thick fog from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. NASA's latest mission intends to probe deeply into Mars and decipher how it formed.
Tour May's Sky: Venus Welcomes Jupiter
This month's astronomy podcast tells you how to use Venus and the Big Dipper to find many bright stars and constellations. Meanwhile, Jupiter lurks low in the east after darkness falls.
Tour April's Sky: Venus Ascending
This month's astronomy podcast guides you around the nighttime sky during April, giving you easy-to-follow help for finding bright planets and key stars after the Sun goes down.
Is ‘Oumuamua an Interstellar Pancake?
A new analysis of more than 800 telescopic observations suggests that our first known interstellar visitor could have the shape of a cigar or a fat disk.
Daylight-Saving Time? Bah, Humbug!
Still controversial, the annual switch to daylight saving time is annoying to backyard astronomers — and probably doesn't save any energy after all.
Tour March's Sky: Planet Peeks at Dusk
With winter's chill fading away, this is a great time to gaze up into the stars — and to be ready for an evening appearance by fleet-footed Mercury. This month's astronomy podcast guides you around the nighttime sky.
Tour February's Sky: Treats for Early Risers
February's astronomy podcast offers you a trio of bright planets to spot before dawn and a plethora of bright stars to check out each evening.
The "Trifecta" Lunar Eclipse on January 31st
Get ready for a celestial event — a total lunar eclipse during the month's second full Moon and near lunar perigee — that hasn't happened in 35 years!
Water Ice Found Exposed in Martian Cliffs
Thick sheets of water ice, some barely buried beneath the surface and likely more than 100 meters thick, have been spotted on several Martian cliff faces.
Tour January's Sky: Planet Pairings at Dawn
January's astronomy podcast describes how to spot Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn in the predawn sky during January — plus you'll learn about a "trifecta" full Moon at month's end.
Solar and Lunar Eclipses in 2018
Two total lunar eclipses occur this year, the first since late 2015, in January and July. Meanwhile, three solar eclipses take place in 2018 — all of them only partial cover-ups.
The Best Meteor Showers in 2018
More than a dozen times each year, we experience a pulse of "shooting stars" from an annual meteor shower. Sky & Telescope predicts that the two best meteor showers in 2018 will be the Perseids in mid-August and the Geminids in mid-December.
`Oumuamua: Red, Tumbling, and Silent
Astronomers' recent observations of our first-known interstellar visitor reveal that it is very strange indeed.
Eye Damage Reported from August's Eclipse
For a young woman who stared too long on August 21st, the partially eclipsed Sun left a lasting impression — on her retinas.
Why is Earth Magnetized and Venus Not?
A new analysis reveals that the gigantic impact that led to the Moon's formation might have also switched on Earth's magnetic field.
Tour December's Sky: See 3 Planets at Dawn
As you'll hear in December's astronomy podcast, early risers are treated with views of Jupiter (obvious), Mars (not as easy), and Mercury (timing is everything!).
Arecibo Observatory Weathers Funding Uncertainty
The U.S. National Science Foundation will continue to fund the iconic radio dish, though at a much-reduced level, as it seeks partners to share in the facility's operation.
Meet 'Oumuamua, the Interstellar Cigar
Rapid-response observations by major observatories shows that the first-known interstellar visitor is 10 times longer than it is wide.
Update on `Oumuamua, Our First Interstellar Object
The arrival of an object from beyond the solar system caught astronomers by surprise — but that doesn't mean that they were unprepared to study it.
A Twisted Tail of Martian Magnetism
Observations from NASA's MAVEN spacecraft reveal that the solar wind causes unexpected interactions with the Red Planet's weak magnetism.
