Australian Sky & Telescope

Australian Sky & Telescope is a world-class magazine about the science and hobby of astronomy.  Combining the formidable worldwide resources of its venerable parent magazine with the talents of the best science writers and photographers in Australia, Australian Sky & Telescope is a magazine produced specifically for the Southern Hemisphere’s astronomers.

Farewell to Opportunity

The Milky Way is warped in more ways than one

Voyager 2 enters interstellar space

Chang’e 4 explores the lunar farside

LIGO and Virgo discover four more black hole collisions

Osiris-REX arrives, finds hints of ancient water

IN BRIEF

NASA’s TESS mission announces new planets

Radio broadcasts from the Sun • ‘Noisy’ sunspots were one of the drivers that led to radio astronomy.

Spinning Through Space • To capture our dynamic universe in all its glory, sometimes our telescopes need to show a little dynamism themselves.

Placing the Pleiades • The second data release from the Gaia mission solves a decades-long controversy about the distance to the Pleiades cluster.

Explaining ALGOL • John Goodricke and Edward Pigott discovered and interpreted a new variable star.

Titan’s Veil • Saturn’s largest moon has a remarkably complex atmosphere, with all the chemical ingredients for life as we know it.

Initial results from the Ultima Thule flyby • NASA’s New Horizons made history when it flew by Ultima Thule on New Year’s Day, but the science return is only beginning.

The spinning snowman revealed

Amateur scopes help find missing link • Inexpensive amateur equipment is aiding astronomers on their quest to find Kuiper Belt objects.

NEW PRODUCT SHOWCASE

Starfish & stragglers • Celebrate autumn by recreating Messier’s historic discovery of a striking star cluster.

Cluster fit for a queen

USING THE STAR CHART

Sailing with the argonauts • There’s a lot more to learn about Canopus, the night sky’s second-brightest star.

The Moon swallows Saturn • The first of four lunar occultations of the ringed planet in 2019.

The old faithful Etas • Twin peaks for this southern shower.

SKY PHENOMENA

LUNAR PHENOMENA

Anti-tails and shadows • Remembering two of the 21st century’s most interesting comets.

A Carina quadrella • Four easy stars in the same southern field.

Dikes on a dead Moon • The appearance of volcanic lunar features tells us what was happening below the surface eons ago.

The Asp in Autumn • Slide along the serpent’s curves to explore the Hydra I Galaxy Cluster.

The Herschel hunt • Are you up for the ultimate observing challenge? Take a page out of the author’s logbook and endeavour to observe the whole Herschel catalogue.

NURTURE YOUR NEWT Bathing mirrors • Cleaning your reflector’s optics ensures top performance.

Daystar’s Solar Scout 60C • Explore the Sun’s chromosphere with this dedicated hydrogen-alpha telescope.

Sudden impact • The discovery of a huge meteor crater beneath Greenland’s ice sheet has reignited a debate over cosmic influences.

Brent’s light bucket • You can make a telescope out of practically anything.

2019 CALENDAR

Activities for amateurs • Getting involved in amateur astronomy

Mike Sidonio

Astrophotos from our readers

From star lore to space logo • The Australian Space Agency embraced indigenous ideas when developing its new branding.