February 2008

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The world's best-selling astronomy magazine offers you the most exciting, visually stunning, and timely coverage of the heavens above. Each monthly issue includes expert science reporting, vivid color photography, complete sky coverage, spot-on observing tips, informative telescope reviews, and much more! All this in an easy-to-understand, user-friendly style that's perfect for astronomers at any level.

Features

How comets shaped history

By Richard Jakiel

In ancient skies, a comet's sudden appearance provided both spectacle and portent — and savvy leaders took advantage.

Web extra: History's greatest comets

By Francis Reddy

Scroll through the past to see just how good a comet can be.

Journey to the heart of the Milky Way

By John Dvorak

Astronomers know a supermassive black hole anchors our galaxy's core. But they struggle to understand the origins of fast-moving stars that swarm it.

Web extra: The black-hole hostages of Sagittarius A

By Daniel Pendick

Did a medium-sized black hole drag a cluster of hot young stars to the Milky Way's core?

On the trail of hydrogen's heavy sibling

By Bruce Dorminey

With twice the mass of ordinary hydrogen, deuterium plays a weighty role in trying to comprehend the early universe, galactic evolution, and life's extent.

Where has all the water gone?

By Richard Talcott

New results from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter suggest the Red Planet's past may not have been so warm and wet after all.

Web extra: Revealing the Red Planet's secrets

By Richard Talcott

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter continues to amaze scientists with its detailed images.

Illustrated: Explore Jupiter's moons

By Francis Reddy, Roen Kelly

Tenuous dust rings, glowing gas clouds, and a ring of plasma arise from Jupiter's closest moons.

Observe winter's forgotten star clusters

By Steve Coe

Begin your observing year with 16 bright, but little-known, open clusters.