SUNSET: 
Observing Carbon Stars
Expand your observing plans by adding a few of these red-orange carbon stars.
This Week's Sky at a Glance, May 18 – 26
Stars, planets, the Moon, constellations -- daily sky sights for the unaided eye, binoculars and telescopes
Vega Promises, Venus Visits M35, and a Subtle Comet Shines at Morning
A familiar light shines in the east at dusk, Venus makes a pit stop at a departing star cluster, and Comet PanSTARRS (C/2016 M1) coaxes before dawn.
This Week's Sky at a Glance, May 11 – 19
This week Venus shines in the west during twilight. Jupiter glares in the southeast at nightfall, and Mars and Saturn rise late at night.
Jupiter Shines with a Mighty Light
Jupiter's at opposition this week. Close and bright, it shines like a midnight version of Venus. No matter your scope, the biggest planet is always a crowd-pleaser.
This Week's Sky at a Glance, May 4 – 12
Want to become a better astronomer? Learn your way around the constellations! They're the key to locating everything fainter and deeper to hunt with binoculars or a telescope.
Time Travel for Skywatchers
Time travel is one of the best things about astronomy. Check out two websites that give skywatchers a more visceral sense of stellar distances and how constellations change shape across the sweep of time.
Dwarf Nova V392 Persei Goes Big — It's Now Binocular Bright
In a rare move, a sleepy cataclysmic variable blows its top and suddenly becomes a nova.
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.
This Week's Sky at a Glance, April 27 – May 5
Keep an eye on the changing pattern of Venus with Aldebaran and the Pleiades, in the west as twilight fades.
Seven Nights of Enticing Lunar Sights
Come along for a 7-night tour of some of the Moon's most compelling features visible in small telescopes.
This Week's Sky at a Glance, April 20 – 28
Friday, April 20 • This evening the dark limb of the crescent Moon will occult 4th-magnitude multiple star Nu Geminorum, in the feet of Gemini, for parts of the southern U.S. and points south. For rough time estimates at your location, interpolate between the time predictions in the April Sky…
Meet Polaris, the North Star
Meet Polaris, the North Star. It's not the brightest star in the sky, but it's within a degree of the north celestial pole.
The Lyrid Shower Kicks Off Year of Great Meteor Watching
The annual Lyrid meteor shower will shoot off silent fireworks on Earth Day this Sunday. We explore the shower's origin and how best to view and photograph it.
Spring Astronomy Day 2018
Looking for something to do on Saturday? Make plans to celebrate Astronomy Day on April 21st!
This Week's Sky at a Glance, April 13 – 21
After dark, Leo walks horizontally across the meridian high in the south. His brightest star is Regulus, the bottom star of Leo's Sickle.
Asteroid 113 Amalthea to Occult Star
Here's an opportunity for amateur astronomers to reveal more about asteroid Amalthea's satellite.
Dusty Vistas: Best Gritty Galaxies of the Season
Stare up at the Milky Way band on a dark night and you'll see missing pieces from clouds of foreground dust that absorb the light of distant stars. There are other mottled "milky ways" just like ours, millions of light-years away.
Big Scope Breakout: New Supernovae, Novae, Bright Spot on Saturn
The sky's been bursting with exploding stars this season. Plus there's a new storm on Saturn. What's a skywatcher to do? Haul out the scope!
This Week's Sky at a Glance, April 6 – 14
The two Dog Stars stand vertically aligned around the end of twilight. Look southwest. Brilliant Sirius in Canis Major is below; Procyon in Canis Minor is high above.
