BBC Sky at Night

Sky at Night magazine is your practical guide to astronomy. Each issue features the world’s biggest and best night sky guide complete with star charts, observing tutorials and in-depth equipment reviews to ensure that amateur astronomers never miss those must-see events.

Welcome • The countdown begins on an exciting year of space discovery

Sky at Night – lots of ways to enjoy the night sky…

This month's contributors

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COSMIC MISFITS • Astronomers identify first brown dwarf candidates outside the Milky Way

Chance of finding intelligent aliens gets slimmer • New equation suggests our Universe had low odds of forming life

The Moon's far side was volcanically active • Moonrocks from China's Chang'e 6 mission are revealing the Moon's hidden side

Miranda had a liquid water ocean • The finding challenges Voyager 2's data that suggested the Uranus moon was inert

Fast-feeding black hole breaks theory • The matter-guzzling frenzy appears to be a single, extreme bout of accretion

Source of Earth's carbon found • Study says life-giving element was in the cloud that birthed the Solar System

Environmental concerns over Starlink • SpaceX's communication network vastly outnumbers all other satellites

Dandelion supernova • Astronomers shed new light on an ancient star explosion

Steam world is under pressure • Study finds a planet rich in water, despite being too hot to form rain

How AI can aid astronomers • Humans and machines are teaming up to tackle huge datasets

INSIDE THE SKY AT NIGHT • When you're trying to tell the story of the Universe, it helps to have some visuals. Oliver Smyth, animation director on The Sky at Night, explains how graphics bring complex cosmic mysteries to life

Looking back: The Sky at Night • 20 November 1980

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Out of the shadows

BBC Sky at Night

Space: the final frontier for health • Human space travel is limited by one thing, says Jonathan Powell – the human body

SPACE IN 2025 • From a visit to an asteroid and a milestone in human spaceflight to two lunar eclipses and an unusually bright Mars, Jamie Carter looks ahead to 2025's space missions and observing highlights

Jump into the DEEP end How to progress from planetary to deep-sky photography • Love imaging the planets, but ready to try something new? Charlotte Daniels explains how to take the plunge and stretch your skills further

Try these for your first deep-sky image

Is there water on Mars? • Today, the Red Planet is a dry and arid place, but it wasn't always that way

Where did the water go? • We can see Mars's wet history etched into its surface

The Sky Guide • JANUARY 2025

JANUARY HIGHLIGHTS • Your guide to the night sky this month

NEED TO KNOW • The terms and symbols used in The Sky Guide

Lunar occultation of Saturn • THE BIG THREE The top sights to observe or image this month

Quadrantids 2025 • BEST TIME TO SEE: Evening of 3 January, from when it gets dark

Venus and Saturn • BEST TIME TO SEE: 10–25 January, smallest separation on 18 January

PICK OF THE MONTH • THE PLANETS Our celestial neighbourhood in January

THE NIGHT SKY – JANUARY • Explore the celestial sphere with our Northern Hemisphere all-sky chart

MOONWATCH • January's top lunar feature to observe

COMETS AND ASTEROIDS • Track 14 Irene as it reaches opposition in Gemini

STAR OF THE MONTH • Mebsuta, a yellow supergiant in Gemini

BINOCULAR TOUR • Ride a coaster, fly a kite, catch a plane – and don't forget to stop and smell the rose

THE SKY GUIDE CHALLENGE • Jupiter's...