Magazine

Science

When using astronomy software or astronomy books and atlases, I notice that not everyone draws the constellations the same way. Why?

Observing, Planets

Venus climbs high at dusk

Science, Solar System

How did all the planets with their moons get their names?

Milky Way, Stars

Recently, astronomers discovered the most distant Milky Way stars to date, at distances of 775,000 and 900,000 light-years, respectively. How can these two stars be in the Milky Way if our galaxy is 120,000 light-years across?

Observing

In a location far from city lights, on a night of good seeing, what percentage of stars visible to the naked eye is beyond our galaxy?

The Moon

The pulsing Moon

Observing, The Sun

A while back, I saw a rainbow circle about 40° in diameter around the Sun. The inside of the circle was darker. I’d like to know why the circle was there, and what math explanation there is to address its huge size. It looked like a cap was taken off the atmosphere and you could peer into the universe.

Science

January’s top 10 targets

The Sun

Talking totality

Deep-Sky Objects

Target open clusters

Science

Why are magnetic fields rare in massive stars and in close pairs? As far as I know, all stars have rotating plasma interiors, so they should all have magnetic fields. Would the lack of a magnetic field mean that the star does not have solar flares?

Observing

Seven dwarfs of winter