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Microsoft opens windows to the Universe
Exploding stars, colliding galaxies and a grand tour of the Solar System are just a mouse click away thanks to Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope (WWT), a free tool that combines high resolution images from the best ground and space based observatories to bring the wonders of the Universe to your desktop computer.
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Taking the temperature of the cosmic background
Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers have made the first detection of a carbon monoxide molecule in a galaxy almost 11 billion light years away, a feat that has resulted in the most precise measurement of the cosmic temperature at such a remote epoch.
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Antennae Galaxies closer than you think
New research from Hubble shows that the Antennae Galaxies, an interacting pair that are used as a standard against which to validate theories about galaxy evolution, are 20 million light years closer than previously thought.
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Iron 'snow' helps maintain Mercury’s magnetic field
Just like snowflakes form in the Earth’s atmosphere and drift to the ground, new scientific evidence suggests that deep inside the planet Mercury, iron “snow” forms and falls toward the centre of the planet, and could be responsible for Mercury’s magnetic field.
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Found: Part of the Universe’s missing matter
Using ESA’s orbiting X-ray observatory XMM-Newton, a team of international astronomers has uncovered part of the missing matter of the Universe, in a filament of gas connecting two galaxy clusters.
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Astronomers discover new breed of star
Using the 2.1 metre Otto Struve Telescope at McDonald Observatory, astronomers at the University of Texas have predicted and confirmed the existence of a new type of variable star: a pulsating carbon white dwarf.
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Stellar time bomb makes scheduled explosion
Using observations from NASA’s Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), an international team of astronomers has discovered a timing mechanism that allows them to predict exactly when a neutron star will unleash its wrath.
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Black hole thrown out of parent galaxy
By an enormous burst of gravitational waves that accompanies the merger of two black holes, a newly formed black hole has been booted out of its parent galaxy at thousands of kilometres per second, confirming theories that extreme ejection events like this can occur and aren’t only plausible in supercomputer simulations.
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Saturn’s furious five month storm
Saturn’s longest ever observed electrical storm remains persistent after five months, with lightning bolts 10,000 times more powerful than lightning on Earth penetrating right through the planet’s troposphere.
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Ultra compact galaxies weigh heavy on early Universe
Astronomers looking at the Universe’s distant past have discovered nine young, ultra compact galaxies, each weighing in at 200 billion times the mass of the Sun but measuring only 5,000 light years across and containing the same number of stars as today’s adult galaxies.
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Old globular clusters surprisingly young
New results from NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory suggest that globular clusters, the dense bunches of stars found in all galaxies, may be less evolved than previously thought.
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Solar flare from a blank Sun
Despite the currently blank face of the Sun, it still has enough energy to surprise us with a solar flare, an event that is normally associated with the presence of a sun spot.
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Shedding new light on the aurora
An international team of scientists has detected the unexpected signatures of polarisation in the Earth’s aurora, providing fresh insight into the composition of the Earth’s upper atmosphere, the configuration of its magnetic field and the energies of solar particles.
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The wild dances of the interacting galaxies
From dramatic collisions that trigger frenetic bursts of star formation, switch on quasars or cause explosive stellar deaths, to stealthy mergers that result in completely new galaxies, the fifty nine spectacular new images of merging galaxies released today to mark the 18th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope shows that no two interactions are alike.
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Unlocking the secrets of a massive black hole
The mechanism by which black holes expel powerful jets of particles at nearly the speed of light has long been speculated, but thanks to new observations of a blazar in action, these theories can now be substantiated.
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Stars born in the galactic wilderness
A new image from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer shows baby stars being spawned in a desolate region of space more than 100,000 light years from the Southern Pinwheel galaxy’s central nursery, providing a unique opportunity to study the formation of early generation stars.
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Awakening the Milky Way’s black hole
Our galaxy’s central black hole let loose a powerful flare three centuries ago, say Japanese astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, Japan’s Suzaku and ASCA satellites and Europe’s XMM-Newton X-ray Observatory.
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The drifting star
By examining the ‘ringing’ of a planet-harboring star, a team of astronomers has shown that it has drifted away from its original birthplace, providing important information about the dynamics of our Milky Way and theories of star and planet formation.
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New Nova in Cygnus
Another nova has been discovered in the constellation of Cygnus following hot on the heels of last month’s magnitude +8 outburst.
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The coolest brown dwarf
An international team of astronomers has discovered the coldest brown dwarf ever observed, bringing scientists one step closer to bridging the gap between stars and planets.
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Recording breaking GRB still shining beacon
Almost one month ago the Swift space telescope captured the explosion of a powerful Gamma Ray Burst (GRB), the brightest naked-eye object ever seen from Earth. Recent Hubble observations show that the light from this GRB is still drowning out the galaxy’s light today.
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Phobos up close
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has produced amazing new colour and stereo views of Phobos, the larger and innermost Martian satellite.
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Cosmic engine takes XMM-Newton by surprise
ESA’s X-ray satellite, XMM-Newton, is taken by surprise by a rare type of galaxy, from which it has detected a higher number of X-rays than previously thought possible.
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Video interview with STFC's Keith Mason
The head of the Science and Technology Facility Council speaks with Astronomy Now Editor Keith Cooper about the astronomy funding crisis at the National Astronomy Meeting in Belfast.
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RAS's Robert Massey talks about the meeting
Royal Astronomical Society spokesman Robert Massey speaks with Astronomy Now's Managing Editor Steven Young about the success of the National Astronomy Meeting in Belfast.
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Monica Grady on the chances of finding life
Monica Grady of the Open University talks with Astronomy Now Web Editor Emily Baldwin about the prospects of finding life beyond our own planet on Mars and beyond.
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Laplace & Tandem vie for Cosmic Visions top-spot
Two missions to the outer Solar System, Laplace (Europa and Jupiter Mission) and Tandem (Titan and Enceladus Mission), are competing against each other for selection later this year; Emily Baldwin summarises the key goals of each ambitious mission.
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Video interview with ESA's David Southwood
The head of the European Space Agency's science programmes speaks with Astronomy Now Editor Keith Cooper at the National Astronomy Meeting in Belfast.
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Meteor showers observed in the Martian atmosphere
A storm of shooting stars has, for the first time, been detected in the Martian atmosphere by a team of scientists based at the Armagh Observatory using data from the Mars Global Surveyor probe.
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Spinning stars make astronomers dizzy
Fast spinning, massive stars have shown that the way in which gases are mixed inside them isn't as simple as had been assumed, according to a new study involving the Very Large Telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, and presented at the RAS National Astronomy Meeting.
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Embryonic planet imaged around young star
The youngest planet ever to be seen has been captured in its earliest stage of formation in a disc of gas and rocky debris around a star 520 light years away.
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Stars burst into life in the early Universe
The strongest burst of star formation in the history of the Universe occurred about two billion years after the Big Bang, say astronomers presenting their research at the National Astronomy Meeting this week.
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Old galaxies stick together in the young Universe
Galaxies which look old early in the history of the Universe reside in enormous clouds of invisible dark matter, and will eventually evolve into the most massive galaxies that exist in the present day, say astronomers from the University of Nottingham presenting their research at the National Astronomy Meeting.
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Supernova factories found in Milky Way's bar
Two star clusters of gigantic red supergiant stars are ticking timebombs in our Galaxy, it was revealed yesterday at the National Astronomy Meeting. "The next supernova could go off in one of these clusters at an time," says Dr Ben Davies.
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SuperWASP scoops ten exoplanets in six months
Ten new exoplanets have been unveiled by the UK's SuperWASP cameras in the last six months, Dr Don Pollacco of Queen's University Belfast announced at this week's National Astronomy Meeting.
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For star formation more is less in large galaxies
Large galaxies that should be in their prime have confounded expectations by experiencing less star formation relative to their mass than smaller galaxies that, according to hierarchical models of galaxy formation, should merely be the building blocks of those larger galaxies.
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Cassini tastes organic material at Enceladus
During its closest and most daring encounter with Saturn’s moon Enceladus, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft sampled an organic brew erupting from the surface in geyser-like fashion that resembles the composition of a comet.
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Evidence for biggest UK impact crater unearthed
Evidence for the biggest asteroid ever to hit the United Kingdom has been unveiled by a team of British scientists.
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Surge of solar activity
With little warning, three large sunspots have materialised in the last 24 hours, one of which unleashed the biggest solar flare so far this year.
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New clues to guide the search for life on Mars
NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter has revealed evidence of salt deposits, the tell-tale signs that water was once abundant in these locations, which may preserve evidence of past life on Mars.
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Titan's Ocean?
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has discovered evidence that points to the existence of an underground ocean of water and ammonia on Saturn’s moon Titan, giving us a window into the satellite’s interior for the first time.
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Super-bright gamma ray burst visible to naked eye
An intense stellar explosion - a gamma ray burst - detected by NASA’s Swift space telescope, is the most distant object visible to the naked eye and the brightest object ever observed by humans.
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Methane found on extrasolar planet
The Hubble Space Telescope has made the first ever detection of an organic molecule on a planet orbiting another star, an important breakthrough in identifying signs of life on a planet outside our Solar System.
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Carancas meteor fall uncovered
Two abstracts presented at the Lunar Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) in Houston, Texas last week have revealed new findings about the Carancas meteor fall which challenge conventional theories about impact events.
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Sir Arthur C Clarke: 1917-2008
British science fiction writer Sir Arthur C Clarke has died at the age of 90 in his home in Sri Lanka after suffering breathing problems.
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Nova outburst in Cygnus
A nova has recently erupted in the constellation of Cygnus, the Swan and is easily visible in small telescopes.
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Life-building ingredients found around infant stars and in meteorites
In two separate reports released this week, scientists have unveiled new discoveries of water vapour and organic gases in the proto-planetary discs of young stars, and unprecedented levels of amino acid concentrations have been detected in meteorites.
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Cassini fly-by success
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft performed a daring flyby of Saturn’s moon Enceladus on Wednesday, speeding at 15 kilometres per second through icy Old-Faithful-like geysers erupting from giant fractures in the moon’s cracked shell, and capturing the highest resolution views yet of the north polar region.
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Rhea's dusty halo
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has found evidence of a “dusty-halo” orbiting Rhea, Saturn's second largest satellite, the first time rings may have been found around a moon.
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Earth-like planets around Alpha Centauri?
Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to our Solar System, should harbour detectable Earth-like planets, according to a new study by a team of astronomers at the University of Santa Cruz.
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Cassini to dive into water plume of Saturn moon
NASA's Cassini spacecraft will make an unprecedented "in your face" flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus on Wednesday, skirting along the edges of huge Old-Faithful-like geysers erupting from giant fractures on the south pole to sample scientifically valuable water-ice, dust and gas in the plume.
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More gloom for UK astronomy
Just weeks after the UK's involvement in the Gemini telescopes was reinstated, and UK astronomy suffers another blow at the hands of STFC in the latest announcement that the e-MERLIN project, an array of radio telescopes including the dish at Jodrell Bank, may face closure within the next year.
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Looking down the barrel of a gamma-ray burst
A team of astronomers from the University of Sydney have been keeping an eye on a binary star system called Wolf-Rayet 104, which is considered by astronomers to be a highly unstable ticking bomb that will eventually explode in a cataclysmic supernova explosion, called a gamma-ray burst (GRB), which might be directed straight at the Earth.
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Martian avalanches caught on film by orbiting probe
Cameras orbiting Mars as part of NASA's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have captured four avalanches in action.
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Sunspot marks the start of new solar cycle
The new year welcomed the beginning of a new solar cycle, with the first sunspot of Cycle 24 observed on 4th January. Cycle 24 has been slow getting started compared to the average over the last few cycles.
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UK astronomers get Gemini reprieve for now
Just 18 days after unceremoniously being barred from access to the Gemini Observatory's 8.2-metre telescopes in Chile and Hawaii, British astronomers are being allowed back in, until July at least. This is the first glimmer of good news since the astronomy funding crisis began last November.
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'Death Star' galaxy black hole fires at neighbor
A powerful jet from a super massive black hole is blasting a nearby galaxy, according to new findings from NASA observatories. This never-before witnessed galactic violence may have a profound effect on planets in the jet's path and trigger a burst of star formation in its destructive wake.
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NASA sends spacecraft on mission to comet Hartley 2
NASA has approved the retargeting of the Epoxi mission for a flyby of comet Hartley 2. Hartley 2 was chosen as Epoxi's destination after the initial target, comet Boethin, could not be found. Scientists theorize comet Boethin may have broken up into pieces too small for detection.
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Hubble zooms in on heart of mysterious Comet Holmes
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has probed the bright core of Comet 17P/Holmes, which, to the delight of sky watchers, mysteriously brightened by nearly a millionfold in a 24-hour period last month.
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Planets found forming in Pleiades star cluster
Rocky terrestrial planets, perhaps like Earth, Mars or Venus, appear to be forming or to have recently formed around a star in the Pleiades ("seven sisters") star cluster, the result of "monster collisions" of planets or planetary embryos.
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Discovery arrives at space station with smooth docking
Commander Pam Melroy deftly guided the shuttle Atlantis to a "picture-perfect" docking with the international space station today, setting the stage for the first of five spacewalks Friday to install a new module, move a huge solar array truss and test a potentially valuable heat shield repair technique.
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MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates!
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DOCKING TIMELINE
VIDEO: STS-120 MISSION COVERAGE
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Chinese launch spacecraft
to explore the moon
China's burgeoning space program achieved another historic milestone during Wednesday's successful launch of the nation's first deep space probe on a one-year mission to study the moon from lunar orbit.
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Hubble shows 'baby' galaxy is not so young after all
The Hubble Space Telescope has found out the true nature of a dwarf galaxy that astronomers had for a long time identified as one of the youngest galaxies in the Universe.
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Heaviest stellar black hole found in nearby galaxy
Astronomers have located an exceptionally massive black hole in orbit around a huge companion star. This result has intriguing implications for the evolution and ultimate fate of massive stars.
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Conditions found 'just right' for building an Earth
An Earth-like planet is likely forming 424 light-years away in a star system called HD 113766, say astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
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NASA craft to carry Russian science instruments
NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos have agreed to fly two Russian scientific instruments on NASA spacecraft that will conduct unprecedented robotic missions to the moon and Mars.
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Though colder than Earth, Titan is tropical in nature
If space travelers ever visit Saturn's largest moon, they will find a tropical world where temperatures plunge to minus 274 degrees Fahrenheit, methane rains from the sky and dunes of ice or tar cover the planet's most arid regions. These conditions reflect a cold mirror image of Earth's tropical and subtropical climates, according to scientists at the University of Chicago.
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Extreme star cluster bursts to life in new Hubble image
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a spectacular image of NGC 3603, a giant nebula hosting one of the most prominent massive young clusters in the Milky Way, thus supplying a prime template for star formation studies.
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Satellite sees solar hurricane detach comet tail
One of NASA's pair of Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory satellites, known as STEREO, has captured the first images of a collision between a comet and a solar hurricane.
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NASA's twin Mars rovers resume driving after storms
After six weeks of hunkering down during raging dust storms that limited solar power, both of NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have resumed driving.
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter concern resolved
Diagnostic tests and months of stable, successful operation have resolved concerns raised early this year about long-term prospects for the powerful telescopic camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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Spitzer marks anniversary with celestial fireworks
A newly expanded image of the Helix nebula lends a festive touch to the fourth anniversary of the launch of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. This spectacular object, a dying star unraveling into space, is a favorite of amateur and professional astronomers alike. Spitzer has mapped the expansive outer structure of the six-light-year-wide nebula, and probed the inner region around the central dead star to reveal what appears to be a planetary system that survived the star's chaotic death throes.
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Astronomers find gaping hole in the universe
University of Minnesota astronomers have found an enormous hole in the universe, nearly a billion light-years across, empty of both normal matter such as stars, galaxies and gas, as well as the mysterious, unseen "dark matter."
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Dark matter mystery deepens in 'train wreck'
Astronomers have discovered a chaotic scene unlike any witnessed before in a cosmic "train wreck" between giant galaxy clusters. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical telescopes revealed a dark matter core that was mostly devoid of galaxies, which may pose problems for current theories of dark matter behavior.
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What makes Mars magnetic?
If you could pick up a rock from the surface of Mars, then the chances are it would be magnetic. And yet, Mars doesn't have a magnetic field coming from its core. These rocks are clinging to the signal of an ancient magnetic field, dating back billions of years, to the times when Mars had a magnetic field like Earth's.
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Astronomers spot brightest galaxies in distant universe
By combining the capabilities of several telescopes, astronomers have spotted extremely bright galaxies hiding in the distant, young universe. The newfound galaxies are intrinsically bright due to their large rate of star formation-1000 times greater than the Milky Way. However, much of that light is hidden by surrounding dust and gas, leaking out only in the infrared.
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Space shuttle Endeavour returns to Earth
Shuttle Endeavour sailed into the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, touching down on Runway 15 at 12:32 p.m. EDT after traveling more than five million miles on its 20th spaceflight.
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PHOTOS: ENDEAVOUR'S LANDING
MISSION STATUS CENTER
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Endeavour pulls into port
at the space station
The space shuttle Endeavour docked to the international space station today, linking up at 2:02 p.m. EDT as the two craft flew 214 miles over the South Pacific. Endeavour's trip to the station will see installation a new truss spacer and the delivery of supplies.
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PREVIEW STORY
DOCKING TIMELINE
MISSION FLIGHT PLAN
MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates!
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Largest extrasolar planet found around distant star
An international team of astronomers have announced the discovery of a new extrasolar planet in the constellation of Hercules. It is the largest known exoplanet and is about 70 percent bigger than Jupiter.
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Shuttle Endeavour thunders back into space
The shuttle Endeavour, making its first flight since the 2003 Columbia disaster, blasted off Wednesday on a space station assembly mission carrying a crew of seven that includes teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan, Christa McAuliffe's backup in the original Teacher in Space program.
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STS-118 QUICK-LOOK
LAUNCH WINDOWS CHART
COUNTDOWN TIMELINE
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IMAGES: GANTRY ROLLBACK
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A monster galaxy pileup
Four galaxies are slamming into each other and kicking up billions of stars in one of the largest cosmic smash-ups ever observed. The clashing galaxies will eventually merge into a single, behemoth galaxy up to 10 times as massive as our own Milky Way.
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Phoenix takes flight!
NASA's Phoenix spacecraft has embarked on its 10-month, 420-million-mile cruise from Earth to Mars, departing aboard a Delta 2 rocket Saturday morning bound for the Red Planet to examine the frozen water in the northern plains that could be a habitable zone for life.
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MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!
VIDEO: COVERAGE OF PHOENIX
PODCAST: WATCH | FREE SUBSCRIPTION
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Mars lander set to launch Saturday
NASA's Phoenix spacecraft is poised for launch early Saturday to begin a 10-month, 420-million-mile cruise from Earth to Mars. Liftoff of the Delta 2 rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral remains targeted to occur at 5:26 a.m. EDT.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!
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Cassini finds possible origin to one of Saturn's rings
Cassini scientists may have identified the source of one of Saturn's more mysterious rings. Saturn's G ring likely is produced by relatively large, icy particles that reside within a bright arc on the ring's inner edge.
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Planet orbiting a giant red star discovered
A planet orbiting a giant red star has been discovered by an astronomy team led by Penn State's Alex Wolszczan, who in 1992 discovered the first planets ever found outside our solar system. The new discovery is helping astronomers to understand what will happen to the planets in our solar system when our Sun becomes a red-giant star, expanding so much that its surface will reach as far as Earth's orbit.
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Concern increasing for
Mars rover Opportunity
Rover engineers are growing increasingly concerned about the temperature of vital electronics on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity while the rover stays nearly inactive due to a series of dust storms that has lasted for more than a month.
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Shuttle Endeavour cabin leak being investigated
Engineers readying the shuttle Endeavour for the start of its countdown Saturday and launch next Tuesday on a space station assembly mission are wrestling with an apparent crew cabin leak that is proving difficult to isolate.
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Delta rocket launch of Mars probe postponed
Anticipated stormy weather in the Cape Canaveral area Tuesday afternoon caused a ripple effect in preparations to launch the Phoenix lander bound for Mars, forcing NASA to postpone the liftoff aboard a Delta 2 rocket by 24 hours.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!
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Supergiant star spews molecules needed for life
University of Arizona astronomers who are probing the oxygen-rich environment around a supergiant star with one of the world's most sensitive radio telescopes have discovered a score of molecules that include compounds needed for life.
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Satellites unveil new type of active galaxy
An international team of astronomers using NASA's Swift satellite and the Japanese/U.S. Suzaku X-ray observatory has discovered a new class of active galactic nuclei.
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Mars rovers still hunkered down to weather dust storm
NASA's Mars rovers continued to be plagued by a global dust storm Saturday, but both of the golf cart-sized craft produced more power than they consumed this week, according to the mission's chief scientist.
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Gases escaping from Jupiter's moon Io studied
Boston University researchers have published the first clear evidence of how gases from volcanoes on a tiny moon of Jupiter can lead to the largest visible gas cloud in the solar system.
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Planets with four parents?
How many stars does it take to "raise" a planet? In our own solar system, it took only one -- our Sun. However, new research from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows that planets might sometimes form in systems with as many as four stars.
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Chandra telescope catches 'piranha' black holes
Supermassive black holes have been discovered to grow more rapidly in young galaxy clusters, according to new results from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. These "fast-track" supermassive black holes can have a big influence on the galaxies and clusters that they live in.
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NASA's twin Mars rovers braving severe dust storms
Having explored Mars for three-and-a-half years in what were missions originally designed for three months, NASA's Mars rovers are facing perhaps their biggest challenge.
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Star surface polluted by planetary debris
Looking at the chemical composition of stars that host planets, astronomers have found that while dwarf stars often show iron enrichment on their surface, giant stars do not. The astronomers think that the planetary debris falling onto the outer layer of the star produces a detectable effect in a dwarf star, but this pollution is diluted by the giant star and mixed into its interior.
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Spitzer searches for the origins of life
Astronomers suspect the early Earth was a very harsh place. Temperatures were extreme, and the planet was constantly bombarded by cosmic debris. Many scientists believe that life's starting materials, or building blocks, must have been very resilient to have survived this tumultuous environment.
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Galaxy Evolution Explorer spies band of stars
The Galaxy Evolution Explorer's ultraviolet eyes have captured a globular star cluster, called NGC 362, in our own Milky Way galaxy. In this new image, the cluster appears next to stars from a more distant neighboring galaxy, known as the Small Magellanic Cloud.
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From dark obscurity: New Saturn moon comes to light
Like a hawk's eyes, the high resolution cameras on NASA's Cassini spacecraft have spotted yet another small, previously unknown moon circling giant Saturn and one which may indicate the existence of other small bodies in the same region.
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'Blue Needle' presents new challenge for theorists
Astronomers using the W. M. Keck Observatory and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to study disks of debris around stars have found one that is extremely lopsided. While scientists are accustomed to finding asymmetrical accumulations of dust and larger bodies around stars, the debris disk around a star known as HD 15115 has a needle-like shape.
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Satellites discover biggest collisions in the Universe
The orbiting X-ray telescopes XMM-Newton and Chandra have caught a pair of galaxy clusters merging into a giant cluster. The discovery adds to existing evidence that galaxy clusters can collide faster than previously thought.
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Michio Kaku is professor of theoretical physics at City College New York. He is a best-selling author And TV presenter. Two of his most recent programs were shown on BBC Four and his latest book Physics of the Impossible (Allan Lane) is on sale now. Astronomy Now's Kulvinder Singh Chadha talks to the man who dreams about the impossible.
This 132-page special edition features the ultimate observing guide for 2008, a review of all the biggest news stories, in depth articles covering all aspects of astronomy including astrophotography, the future of the Sun and space missions for 2008, and much, much more.
A 100-page special edition from the creators of Astronomy Now magazine, The Grand Tour of the Universe takes readers from one end of the Universe to the other and, in doing so, asks the question "just how big is the Universe?"
This special publication features the photography of British astro-imager Nik Szymanek and covers a range of photographic methods from basic to advanced. Beautiful pictures of the night sky can be obtained with a simple camera and tripod before tackling more difficult projects, such as guided astrophotography through the telescope and CCD imaging.