July 2017

Published:
This month’s features:
– Life from Space – did life on Earth begin on Earth?
– Summer’s Night-Shining Spectacle – Make the most of this year’s noctilucent clouds season
– Catching the Planet Killers – how you can become an asteroid hunter and protect Earth from an catastrophic event!
– Portraits of Jupiter – the latest views of Jupiter from NASA’s Juno spacecraft
– Getting to the Heart of Pluto – how New Horizons has changed our view of the dwarf planet
Equipment reviews
Celestron CGEM II equatorial mount
PrimaLuceLabs AIRY ED100 apo doublet refractor
Meade LPI-G colour video camera
Online Bonus Content
A classic episode of The Sky at Night in which Patrick explores the mystery of how life on Earth began.
We speak to Richard Varvill of Reaction Engines about the new rocket engine that could change the way we travel into space
Pete Lawrence and Paul Abel guide us through July’s night skies in the Virtual Planetarium.
Download a PDF and audio chapter of We Have No Idea, a new book from the creator of PHD Comics and a CERN physicist
Also this month
The science of space rocks in The Guide
How to build a clip-on finderscope illuminator
Image processing – combining local and overall edits in Lightroom
Monthly Bulletin pages bring you up to date with all the latest astronomical news, as well as Cutting Edge revealing the highlights from brand new research
Our July Sky Guide featuring a lunar occultation of Mercury, noctilucent clouds and Pluto at opposition
Our Scope Doctor answers your technical kit questions
Interactive: your letters, tweets, forum posts and readers’ scopes
Gear – a round up of the latest astronomical accessories
What’s On listings – find out what astronomy events are on near you
Hotshots – this month’s pick of your very best astrophotos
Beautiful new images from space in Eye on the Sky
The latest astronomy books reviewed