BBC Sky at Night

Sky at Night magazine is your practical guide to astronomy. Each issue features the world’s biggest and best night sky guide complete with star charts, observing tutorials and in-depth equipment reviews to ensure that amateur astronomers never miss those must-see events.

Welcome • You may want to linger over this issue

Sky at Night – lots of ways to enjoy the night sky…

This month's contributors

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BURIED TREASURE • The JWST uncovers sparking stellar jewels inside the Treasure Chest

The fight to save Jodrell Bank's Lovell Telescope • Campaigners warn cuts are “devastating news for UK astronomy”

Aircraft need more protection from solar storms • Study says aviation industry should integrate planning for severe space weather

Is antimatter leaking out of our Galaxy? • Gamma-ray hotspots suggest the Milky Way is making more antimatter than we thought

Our entire Galaxy may have been flipped on its side • Research suggests a violent collision may have tipped the Milky Way's disc over

SpaceX crash produces more than a new crater • Falcon 9 collision with the Moon offers a rare real-world impact experiment

Could we track space junk with radio telescopes? • Existing observatories could help us detect the growing space debris around Earth

Curiosity finds vast honeycomb field on Mars • Thousands of polygonal fractures could reveal the geological history of ancient Mars

New record: fastest star in our Galaxy discovered • Its orbit may reveal – for the first time – how fast the Milky Way's black hole is rotating

New image hints at solution to Tarantula Nebula X-ray puzzle • Combined telescope data sheds new light on the nebula's ‘missing’ energy

Tabby's Star: is the mystery solved? • New research points to a giant planet as the culprit for this star's weird fluctuations

Betelgeuse's buddy does a disappearing act • Hubble couldn't catch the red giant's companion. We might now know why

INSIDE THE SKY AT NIGHT • Gravitational waves and ghostly neutrinos are opening new windows on the cosmos. Spare a thought for the physics teachers trying to keep up, says George Dransfield

Total eclipse of the heart

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BBC Sky at Night

Don't let Jodrell Bank fall silent • Brian Clegg reflects on the news that one of the best-known radio telescopes in the world – the UK's iconic Jodrell Bank – is at risk of closure

Now showing: THE UNIVERSE • Caroline Harper reveals how, one year after its first images wowed astronomers, the Vera C Rubin Observatory has begun filming the greatest movie ever made

AI on the night shift • How Rubin sifts 20 terabytes of data a night to uncover new science gold

The secret to Rubin's speed • Slewing a 350-ton telescope every 40 seconds takes some ingenious engineering

ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year • BBC Sky at Night Magazine is delighted to reveal the 2026 winners in the world's biggest astrophotography contest

The judges

Free 2027 calendar

The Sky Guide • OCTOBER 2026

OCTOBER HIGHLIGHTS • Your guide to the night sky this month

NEED TO KNOW • The terms and symbols used in The Sky Guide

Close encounters of the Mars and Jupiter kind • THE BIG THREE The top sights to observe or image this month

Vesta and Pallas at opposition • BEST TIME TO SEE: All month; Pallas opposition 4 October, Vesta 13 October

Moon vs Pleiades • BEST TIME TO SEE: 27/28 October, 23:45 UT–02:30 UT

PICK OF THE MONTH • THE PLANETS Our celestial neighbourhood in...