Astronomy Magazine
Covers space missions, planetary science, and space technology for enthusiasts
Norse Headwear
NGC 2359, popularly called Thor’s Helmet, is an emission nebula about 15,000 light‑years from Earth in the constellation Canis Major. The nebula encircles a massive Wolf‑Rayet star whose powerful stellar winds are blowing gas and dust outward, sculpting the nebula’s distinctive helmet‑shaped appearance. The striking image was captured by an astronomical imager and featured on Astronomy.com’s Picture of the Day. The visual showcases intricate filaments and glowing ionized gas illuminated by the star’s radiation.
An Emerald Eye
Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) lit the eastern dawn sky on April 9, 2026, displaying a vivid emerald‑green coma and a blue ion tail extending over 10 degrees. Arizona amateur astronomer Chris Schur captured the event with a 135 mm f/2 lens on a...
A Palace on the Moon
During the September 7‑8, 2025 lunar eclipse, photographer Tianyao Yang captured the Chinese Tiangong space station silhouetted against the Moon. He used orbital data from the China Manned Space Agency, converted to TLE format with the Planit Pro app, and selected a site in...
Dave Eicher Reviews ‘The Barnard Album’
The Barnard Album, released in 2026 as part of the Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series, revitalizes Edward E. Barnard’s century‑old dark‑nebula atlas with modern color photography. The book reproduces the original plates at a reduced ~5‑inch scale while preserving fine detail, and adds...
April 14, 1629: The Birth of Christaan Huygens
The article commemorates the April 14, 1629 birth of Dutch polymath Christiaan Huygens, highlighting his groundbreaking work in astronomy and physics. He correctly described Saturn’s rings, discovered its largest moon Titan, and was the first to spot a surface feature on another...
The Sky Today on Tuesday, April 14: An Io Transit
On the night of April 14‑15, Io and its shadow transit Jupiter’s disk, moving from east to west across the planet’s face. The transit begins at 11:25 PM EDT and lasts about an hour, with the shadow appearing shortly after midnight and...
A Mysterious Rose
Sharpless 2‑174, dubbed the Rose of Valentine, is a faint emission nebula about 1,400 light‑years distant in the constellation Cepheus. It was originally classified as a planetary nebula left behind by the white dwarf GD 561, but recent studies suggest it may...
With Renewed Interest in Going to the Moon, How Will Future Trash Be Dealt With?
Renewed lunar activity has revived concerns over the 400,000 lb (181 t) of Apollo-era trash now classified as human heritage under the 2020 One Small Step Act. While the Artemis Accords and UN bodies stress debris mitigation, concrete plans for surface waste...
April 13, 1941: The Death of Annie Jump Cannon
Annie Jump Cannon, a pioneering astronomer, classified roughly 350,000 stars and refined the OBAFGKM spectral classification still used today. Her work at Harvard’s Observatory, alongside the famed “Pickering’s women,” led to a Ph.D. from Groningen—the first woman to achieve that honor—and an...
The Sky Today on Monday, April 13: Io and Europa Cross Paths
On the night of April 13‑14, 2026, Europa began transiting Jupiter’s disk before slipping off the western limb, while Io moved eastward toward the planet. The two moons briefly aligned, with Io appearing about 5 arcseconds north of Europa shortly after...
April 12, 1981: Columbia Lifts of for the First Space Shuttle Mission
On April 12, 1981, NASA’s Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off on STS‑1, the inaugural flight of the United States’ reusable spacecraft program. Piloted by John Young and Robert Crippen, the two‑day mission demonstrated successful launch, orbit, and safe return, validating...
April 11, 1970: Apollo 13 Blasts Off for the Moon
On April 11, 1970 Apollo 13 launched as NASA’s third attempted lunar landing, crewed by Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and last‑minute replacement Jack Swigert. Ten minutes after a live TV broadcast, an oxygen tank in the Service Module exploded, crippling the spacecraft’s power and...
The Sky Today on Saturday, April 11: Comet Tempel 2 in Scutum
Comet 10P/Tempel 2 has entered the constellation Scutum and will stay visible all summer, rising around 1 A.M. and reaching about 35° altitude by 5 A.M. local time. At roughly 12th magnitude it is still faint, requiring a moderate telescope, but it is...
April 10, 2019: First Look at a Black Hole
On April 10, 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope released the first direct image of a black hole, capturing the supermassive black hole at the core of galaxy M87. The picture, assembled from 2017 data collected by an eight‑site global array,...
The Sky Today on Friday, April 10: Ganymede Shadow Crossing
Early Friday morning, the large shadow of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede began crossing the planet’s cloud tops, becoming visible across the western two‑thirds of the United States at 12:57 A.M. CDT. The dark notch takes about eight to ten minutes to fully...
