Welcome to BBC Sky at Night Magazine - skyatnightmagazine

What to see in the night sky in 2021. Credit: Christianto Soning / EyeEm / Getty Images

Stargazing 2021 What to see in the night sky this year

Best binoculars for astronomy in 2021

Observing guide Best winter constellations

An annular solar eclipse captured from Lubbock, Texas in 2012. Credit: Willoughby Owen / Getty Images

Eclipses 2021 This year's solar and lunar eclipses

A beginner's guide to telescope mounts. Credit: WellfordT / Getty Images

Telescope Mounts: a beginner’s guide

What's new?

Beginners' astronomy

Our simple guides will help you make the most of your time under the stars

Sir Patrick Moore pictured at Birr Castle with the device used by the fourth Earle to measure the surface temperature of the Moon. Patrick visited Birr for the filming of an episode of The Sky at Night, broadcast in 1967. Credit: BBC / The Sky at Night

Patrick Moore’s top 10 winter astronomy sights

Friends stargazing. Credit: EvgeniyShkolenko / Getty

Observing guide How to see the planets in 2021

How to spend your first night with a telescope. Credit: m-gucci / Getty Images

Your first night with a telescope

Kemble's Cascade asterism in Camelopardalis. Credit: Alan Dyer/Stocktrek Images

An astronomer’s tour of autumn and winter targets

More beginners' guides

Exploring the cosmos

How big is our Solar System? credit: MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

How big is the Solar System?

Massive galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA, ESA, Harald Ebeling (University of Hawaii at Manoa) & Jean-Paul Kneib (LAM)

What are the biggest objects in the Universe?

A computer model of the Kuiper Belt. Credit: NASA

What is the Kuiper Belt?

A closeup of the Tarantula Nebula, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA, ESA

9 of the most mind-blowing facts about the Universe

More space science

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Astronomy equipment reviews

The latest telescopes, cameras, binoculars, mounts and accessories tried and tested.

Bresser StarTracker Astronomical Photo Mount review

Telescope mounts

Bresser StarTracker Astronomical Photo Mount Kit review

William Optics Zenithstar 61 II APO with UniGuide guidescope review

William Optics Zenithstar 61 II APO with UniGuide guidescope review

Sky-Watcher StarQuest 130P Newtonian reflector

Sky-Watcher StarQuest 130P Newtonian reflector review

ZWO ASI 1600GT M camera review

ZWO ASI 1600GT M camera review

Altair Starwave 110ED-R refractor review

Altair Starwave 110ED-R refractor

Bresser Spezial Astro SF 15x70 binoculars

Binoculars for astronomy

Bresser Spezial Astro SF 15×70 binoculars review

Read more equipment reviews

Astronomy guides

Celestron Omni XLT AZ 102 Refractor/basic mount

Astronomy FAQs I'm buying my first telescope. Should I get a reflector or a refractor?

Asterisms (shown in red) can cross constellations, which are in fact regions of sky, not just the main patterns. Credit: Pete Lawrence

Constellations and asterisms: what’s the difference?

Sundogs. Credit: Science Photo Library

Daytime astronomy 6 phenomena to spot before nightfall

Get to a good, dark location away from light pollution and you will see so many more stars. Credit: Carlos Fernandez

12 top tips for stargazing

Podcasts

2021's stargazing highlights. Credit: Credit: Bryan Allen / Getty Images

Radio Astronomy Podcast Stargazing and space missions in 2021

BBC Sky at Night Magazine, Radio Astronomy Podcast, January 2021

Radio Astronomy Podcast 2020's spaceflight and astronomy highlights

Listen to the latest episode of the Radio Astronomy podcast, in which we discuss the past, present and future of the New Horizons mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Radio Astronomy Podcast Past present and future of the New Horizons mission

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Astrophotography

Guides and galleries to help you get imaging the night sky

Credit: abriendomundo / iStock / Getty Images Plus

Astrophotography

Astrophotography All you need to know to image the night sky

how to photograph the Moon. Credit: Pete Lawrence

Astrophotography guides

How to photograph the Moon

Complex regions such as the area around the crater Theophilus make excellent imaging targets. Credit: Pete Lawrence

Astrophotography guides

How to photograph craters on the Moon

The top images from the Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2020 competition will be on display at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. Credit: National Maritime Museum, London

Astrophotography

Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2021: how to enter

Great Conjunction Kendall Castle. Credit: Stuart Atkinson

Photographs from the Great Conjunction

Arrange your lunar phase images side-by-side in day order to show the change in apparent diameter of the Moon. Credit: Pete Lawrence

Astrophotography guides

How to record changes in the Moon’s apparent size

Astrophotography galleries

Northern Dragon's Eye Elena Pakhalyuk (Ukraine). Category: Aurora. Equipment Canon EOS 6D camera, 14 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 1600, 30-second exposure.

Gallery Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2020 shortlist images revealed

Jason Durrant, near Beccles, Suffolk, UK, 11 July 2020. Equipment: Sony A7III, Tamron 28-70mm lens, ISO 3200, 5

Gallery Comet NEOWISE blazes across the night sky

Hubble has helped to define the shape of the Ring Nebula, revealing it to be doughnut shaped, with lower density material at its core. Credit: Credits: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration

Gallery Hubble highlights: 16 of the space telescope's most iconic images

Graeme Whippy, Essex, UK. Equipment: Nikon D5300 DSLR camera, 55-300mm lens.

Astrophotography

Gallery The 7-8 April Supermoon, in pictures

Soviet Space Graphics

Gallery 10 iconic Soviet space posters of the Cold War era

Veil Nebula 24 September 2015. A small section of the outer shell of the Veil Nebula, the remnant of a star’s violent death 8,000 years ago. Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team

Hubble at 30 21 incredible images of the past decade

Spaceflight

Celebrating the latest missions and the history of humanity's journey into space

Sarah Al Amiri, Chair of UAE Space Agency, looks ahead to space in 2021. Credit: Ricardo Bessa / Folio

5 predictions for space in 2021

The Apollo 14 lunar module on the Moon. Credit: Science & Society Picture Library / Getty Images

Apollo 14 The story of the 3rd crewed moonlanding

An artist's impression of NASA's Space Launch System lifting off. Credit: NASA/MSFC

Space 2021 The biggest missions to look out for this year

Artist's impression of the New Horizons spacecraft. Credit: NASA

New Horizons What next for the Kuiper Belt mission?

Buzz Aldrin pictured on the surface of the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Credit: NASA

Apollo 11 the journey to land on the Moon

Carey Lisse, an instrument scientist on the New Horizons science team reacts after the team received confirmation from the spacecraft that it has completed the flyby of Pluto, Tuesday, July 14, 2015 at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Interview New Horizons' Kuiper Belt encounter

Dr Abigail Fraeman, deputy project scientist of the Opportunity rover mission, pictured with a model of NASA's Curiosity rover. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Roving robots on Mars: interview with a NASA Opportunity scientist

Artist's impression of the Kepler space telescope Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Wendy Stenzel

How the Kepler space telescope came to be

DIY astronomy

Read our practical guides to get the most out of your observing sessions

How make a model of a comet. Credit: Mary McIntyre

DIY Astronomy Make a model of a comet

Raspberry pi meteor detector. Credit: Mary McIntyre

Set up a Raspberry Pi meteor detector

Build a guidescope using an old camera lens

Build a guidescope using an old camera lens

More DIY astronomy projects