Explore the Night with Bob King
Perseid Prospects, Mornings with Mercury and the Lunar X
With the Perseid shower, a great morning apparition of Mercury, and a chance to see craters scratch out an X on the moon, skywatchers have a busy week ahead!
Explore the Night with Bob King
Wallow a While in the Lagoon Nebula
We take a dip in one of summer's finest nebulae and explore everything from spooky Bok globules to the tornadic Hourglass Nebula. Don't forget your snorkel, er, telescope! Sometimes a single deep-sky object becomes your whole universe. So it was for me when I took several deep wades in the…
Explore the Night with Bob King
Fireball May Have Dropped Meteorites in Ontario
A lime-green meteor as bright as the full Moon streaked across Canadian skies on July 24th and may have delivered free samples from the asteroid belt.
Explore the Night with Bob King
Lonely Pluto Is More than a Speck
With Saturn pointing the way, it's easy to venture into the Kuiper Belt this summer and pay a visit to Pluto.
Celebrate Apollo 11 with a Visit to Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins Craters
Find the craters named for the three astronauts who flew the first manned mission to land on the Moon.
Explore the Night with Bob King
A Spoonful of Saturn to Sweeten the Night
Move over Jupiter, it's time for Saturn to shine! At opposition this week, the ringed planet is at its brightest and closest for the year.
Explore the Night with Bob King
Where Have All the Comets Gone?
It seems like forever since a bright comet has come around. We look at current and future prospects.
See Southern Hemisphere Stars in This Journey to the Bottom of the Sky
How Low Can You Go? Journey to the Bottom of the Sky
Welcome Back, Milky Way!
Twilight's end brings the return of the summer Milky Way to the eastern sky. We unravel the anatomy of our home galaxy by teasing out the hidden structures within that glowing band.
Explore the Night with Bob King
Freaky Noctilucent Clouds Break Out All Over
Night-shining clouds made of ice and meteor smoke are on the increase. We explore their origins and how to see them.
Explore the Night with Bob King
Jupiter Is Outstanding at Opposition
Prime-time Jupiter viewing kicks off this month when the planet reaches opposition on June 10th.
SpaceX Launches First Volley of Starlink Satellites
The 60 Starlink satellites parading across the sky make an incredible sight, but some skywatchers wonder at what cost to the night.
See Bright Nebulae Millions of Light-Years Away
We leave the Milky Way behind and venture out to explore giant star-bursting regions in the galaxies M101 and NGC 2366.
Watch International Space Station Flybys All Night Long
The annual International Space Station marathon viewing season begins later this week, when skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere can watch up to five successive ISS passes in one night.
Explore the Night with Bob King
The Moon Bumbles Into the Beehive Friday
The thick crescent Moon occults oodles of stars in the Beehive star cluster Friday evening for much of the Americas.
Explore the Night with Bob King
An Excellent Year for the Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower
With no Moon to muss, take a crack at seeing the Eta Aquariids, which could be one of the better meteor showers of the year.
Explore the Night with Bob King
Hunting Bright Variable Stars in M5 and M13
Globular clusters are packed with variable stars, some of which are easy to see and follow in amateur telescopes. We explore M5 and M13, two of the season's finest.
Double Date with a Dragon
For your enjoyment, a diverse selection of double stars in Draco for small and medium telescopes.
Explore the Night with Bob King
Yanking Markarian's Chain
Markarian's Chain, a remarkable arc of bright galaxies, is your ticket to the Virgo Cluster. Hop aboard!
Twinkle, Twinkle Quasi-Star — 12 Quasars for Spring Evenings
Quasars are among the brightest and most distant objects in the universe. Many are visible in amateur scopes if you know just where to look. We'll help you track them down.