Astronomy Magazine

On Aug. 8 and Aug. 23, 1991, scientists from CalTech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory turned the 70-meter dish antenna at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex on Mercury. The goal was to produce a radar map of the portions of Mercury not photographed by Mariner 10 during its 1974-75 flybys. But to the researchers’

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column. August 22: Titan northwest of Saturn Let’s check out a lovely binary star in Corona Borealis the Northern Crown. Still high in the west around 10 P.M. local daylight time, this curved constellation lies to the upper left of kite-shaped Boötes, whose

On Aug. 20, 1977, Voyager 2 launched from Cape Canaveral and began its epic journey to the outer planets – and beyond. Twelve years later, the spacecraft photographed Neptune as it approached the ice giant. Two days after that, on Aug. 22, 1989, NASA announced that Neptune had a ring system; the images had revealed

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column. August 21: Titan nears Saturn as Dione skims past Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, was near the planet yesterday and remains close to its parent world today as it moves through its 16-day orbit. Visible in the early-morning sky, Saturn is highest in

On Aug. 12, a total solar eclipse crossed Iceland and Spain — the first time totality has touched European soil since 1999, and the first time it’s crossed Iceland since 1954. Clouds spoiled the view for many in Iceland, but skies cleared for eclipse chasers in Spain. There, totality fell almost at sunset: some viewers