May 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.

Features

Peering inside a monster galaxy

by Steve Nadis

X-rays tell an explosive tale about the inner workings of M87 — a giant elliptical galaxy in the Virgo cluster that ranks among the most massive in the local universe.

Web Extra: Meet face to face with a black holes jet

by Richard Talcott

Hubble Space Telescope observations reveal how the central jet in active galaxy M87 changes with time.

Secret lives of supermassive stars

by Yvette Cendes

The most massive stars burn through their material incredibly fast, die in fantastic explosions, and have long-lasting effects on their neighborhoods.

Web Extra: Watch the first star evolve

by Liz Kruesi

Astronomers model the lives and deaths of the first generation of stars on computers to learn how these behemoths affected their surroundings.

A dream night with the Discovery Channel Telescope

by Tom Polakis

Few observers are able to use an instrument with a 14-foot mirror. For one night, Tom Polakis saw how the universe looks through such a behemoth.

Web Extra: An inside look at the Discover Channel Telescope

by Tom Polakis

Tom Polakis, who spent a night under the stars with this piece of big glass, shares more photos of his experience.

View Ceres and Vesta at their best

by Richard Talcott

Take time this spring to track down the two brightest asteroids.

24 gems near the North Celestial Pole

by Michael E. Bakich

Point your telescope northward any clear night, and you'll see some of the best star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies in the sky.

Web Extra: Explore more north polar deep-sky treats

by Michael E. Bakich

Combine these nine far-northern objects with the 24 already described in the magazine, and you'll have all you need for a great time at the eyepiece any night of the year.