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 • Scopes, binoculars, cameras! Mars is ready for its close-up

This month's contributors

Extra content ONLINE

CREATION AND DESTRUCTION • Webb recreates a classic Hubble image in stunning new detail

Stellar smoke rings shaped by starlight • Strange structure is first time light is seen actively sculpting cosmic dust

First space launch from UK soil • Virgin Orbit will deploy seven satellites, many of which were built with UK involvement

Chinese Space Station completed • The finished Tiangong station can hold up to six people

Asteroid behaviour reveals its inside story

NEWS IN BRIEF

Ancient microbes may survive Mars radiation • The discovery could lead to tighter planetary protection

Apollo 9’s James McDivitt dies, aged 93

Taking chunks from the Sun to save the world • Could reducing the Sun’s mass save the far-future Earth from destruction?

When a star meets a black hole • A growing black hole needs to eat, and makes a mess when it does

INSIDE THE SKY AT NIGHT • As November’s Sky at Night looks at the Universe's mysteries, Emma Chapman tells us how radio astronomy got her hooked on solving them

Looking back: The Sky at Night 15 December 1976

The Sky at Night

INTERACTIVE

ON FACEBOOK

SCOPE DOCTOR

Sky at Night

SOCIETY IN FOCUS

WHAT’S ON

PICK OF THE MONTH

In the bleak midwinter • Benjamin Skuse on the June celebration keeping South Pole astronomers sane

25 SIGHTS OF CHRISTMAS • Take a break from the festive hurly-burly, as Stuart Atkinson brings you a cosmic countdown to the big day with 25 celestial treats to find in the night sky this December

Magnificent MARS at its best • As the Red Planet makes its closest approach, reaches opposition and is occulted by the Moon, this really is Mars season! Charlotte Daniels helps you make the most of it

Mars at its biggest and brightest • The planet gets its time to shine as it sits directly opposite the Sun

Mars season • Mars is on display for months after opposition

Occultation by the Moon • Mars will disappear from view for an hour on 8 December

Get your best view of the spectacle • Magnification, aperture, filters and seeing conditions all play a part

Mars’s changing orbit • No two oppositions are equal - some bring the planet closer than others

Photographing Mars • Widefield or close-up, there are many ways to capture the Red Planet

Get a close look at the Martian surface • Now is the time to spy all the features visible on the Red Planet

DECEMBER HIGHLIGHTS • Your guide to the night sky this month

Family stargazing

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

THE BIG THREE • The top sights to observe or image this month

Favourable Ursids

THE PLANETS • Our celestial neighbourhood in December

The planets in December • The phase and relative sizes of the planets this month. Each planet is shown with south at the top, to show its orientation through a telescope

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

MOONWATCH • December's top Lunar feature to observe

COMETS AND ASTEROIDS • Asteroid HercuLina should be an easy spot in Orion and Taurus this month

STAR OF THE MONTH • At the river's end, Cursa, 2nd - brightest...