Magazine | Page 16 of 281 | Astronomy.com

Frederic Church’s painting of an aurora is reminiscent of the descriptions of an auroral show noted after the Battle of Fredericksburg in Virginia in 1862.

The role of astronomy in the American Civil War

What happens at the center of a black hole?

Travel southeast from Capella to capture Auriga’s targets. The chart at right zooms in on the Happy Face asterism.

Deep-Sky Objects

Binocular Universe: Winter’s first act

Saturn, post-processed in PixInsight. Credit: Molly Wakeling

Observing Basics

Observing Basics: How you can take sharp pictures of the planets

Located near the bright star Rigel, IC 2118 is a faint reflection nebula spanning almost 70 light-years and is popularly known as the Witch Head Nebula. Mukherjee used Telescope Live to acquire 12 hours of data from Australia with a Takahashi FSQ106ED, FLI PL16083, Paramount MX+, and Astrodon LRGB filters.

Astrophotography

Meet one of the fastest growing astroimaging communities

Illustration of how a radio telescope works

How do radio telescopes work?

The giant sunspot AR 3354 on June 29, 2023.

Secret Sky: Seeing sunspots on paper

Alpha Centauri (the yellow star just to the right of center) is the closest bright star to Earth. At 4.35 light-years away, on a scale model where Earth is the size of a bacterium, this star would sit 4.34 miles (nearly 7 km) distant.

Strange Universe: Empty conclusions

Venus and Jupiter over Lake Louise

Sky This Month: December 2023

Dishes of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico line up beneath the starry sky. Radio waves are just one of the numerous signals from space that comprise the soundtrack of the cosmos.

Scientists search for the soundtrack of the universe

A composite of two different times, as seen by Curiosity on Mars

Robotic Spaceflight, Solar System

What time is it on Mars?

It may not look like much, but capturing photons from the distant quasar 3C 273 is one of the most awe-inspiring observations you can make with a small telescope.

Deep-Sky Objects

Target acquired: Observe Quasar 3C 273