Astronomy Magazine

The sky is filled with great objects for observers. With today’s equipment and the sophistication of knowledge we have about clusters, nebulae, and galaxies, some 10,000 good-looking objects are within the range of backyard scopes.  Of course, a dark, moonless sky helps a lot with seeing anything other than the Moon. And a site as

Nebulous age In the Ask Astro column of the April 2026 issue is a photograph of planetary nebula NGC 6302. The caption says that NGC 6302 lies about 3,800 light-years away and is a relatively young nebula at about 2,200 years old. What am I missing? How did the light from a 2,200-year-old nebula traverse

In the early 1960s, Alexander Rodgers, Colin Campbell, and John Whiteoak compiled a catalog of emission nebulae in the southern Milky Way. A particularly impressive entry, RCW 36, resides 2,300 light-years away in the constellation Vela the Sails. RCW 36 boasts an open cluster of massive young stars at its heart, surrounded by glowing clouds

The total solar eclipse of July 28, 1851 is important for two reasons. First, English amateur astronomer and author George F. Chambers wrote that it was the first that spawned dedicated eclipse expeditions. The path of totality stretched from what is today western Canada to Ukraine. European astronomers, however, targeted Norway and Sweden. Bergen, Norway,

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.  July 27: Saturn stands still Mercury has reached magnitude 1.0 in the early-morning sky. Rising a little over an hour before the Sun, it reaches some 6° above the horizon 40 minutes ahead of sunrise. You’ll find it low on the eastern