December 2014

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.

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Features

Five stars that could go bang

by
Francis Reddy

Here’s a rundown of some famous stars with explosive potential.

Web Extra: What about Eta Carinae?

by
Francis Reddy

One of our galaxy’s most massive stars — Eta Carinae — could explode relatively soon. But this distant behemoth remains shrouded in mystery, and astronomers don’t really know when it might go off.

How Gaia will map a billion stars

by
Anthony G. A. Brown

This European spacecraft is making the most detailed 3-D map of our galaxy.

Web Extra: Inside Gaia’s one billion pixel camera

by
Eric Betz

The European Space Agency is using the most powerful camera ever flown in space to create a precise 3-D map of the Milky Way.

Exoplanet systems illustrated

by
Liz Kruesi

Scientists have found more than 1,800 exoplanets orbiting 1,100 stars. Here are the strangest — and the most common.

The golden age of radio astronomy

by
Jacqueline Bilton

Antony Hewish never intended to become an astronomer. But secrets of the hidden universe he and his colleagues stumbled upon ended up earning astronomy its first Nobel Prize.

Web Extra: Exploring the pulsar zoo

by
Karri Ferron

The objects Antony Hewish and Jocelyn Bell discovered in the late 1960s are even more bizarre than they originally imagined.

Target winter’s best open clusters

by
Michael E. Bakich

These 25 celestial treats will have you seeing stars — in a good way!

Chile: Visiting the astronomer’s paradise

by
David J. Eicher

This tour to the Atacama Desert showcased professional observatories and the finest skies on Earth.

Web Extra: Exploring Chile’s great observatories

by
David J. Eicher

Astronomy readers had the chance to visit the Very Large Telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, the Blanco Telescope, and more great instruments on a fantastic trip.