Astronomy, Vol. 51.08 (August 2023)

SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE!
The world’s best-selling astronomy magazine
AUGUST 2023
50 YEARS OF
ASTRONOMY’S
BIGGEST
STORIES
WHERE WILL
SPACE SCIENCE
GO IN 50 YEARS?
THE HISTORY
OF ASTRONOMY
MAGAZINE
SPECIAL ESSAY
BY ANN DRUYAN
-2023
EVOLUTION OF 1973
THE HOBBY OF
ASTRONOMY
50 YEARS www.Astronomy.com
OF GREAT
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Vol. 51• Issue 8
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CONTENT
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AUGUST 2023
VOL. 51, NO. 8
ON THE COVER
In celebration of 50 years of
Astronomy magazine, we created a
collage of past covers. Find the full
FEATURES 18 38 spread on page 12. ASTRONOMY: ROEN
The history of Star Dome and KELLY AND KELLY KATLAPS
12 Astronomy magazine Paths of the Planets

50 years of covers Over half a century, the RICHARD TALCOTT;
Astronomy magazine 1973-2023. world’s leading cosmic brand ILLUSTRATIONS BY ROEN KELLY COLUMNS
has had an adventurous ride.
44 Strange Universe 10
14 DAVID J. EICHER
BOB BERMAN
The origins of The next 50 years
Astronomy magazine 24 of astronomy Secret Sky 62
Steve Walther’s college project Astronomy covers What will astronomy look like STEPHEN JAMES O’MEARA
sparked a revolutionary idea. 50 years of science in 2073? A panel of astronomers
Observing Basics 64
DAVID WALTHER From exploring upcoming and planetary scientists give their MOLLY WAKELING
missions to reporting predictions. MARK ZASTROW
16 fantastic finds, the magazine Binocular Universe 66
The cosmos comes to life has watched the field grow. 52 PHIL HARRINGTON
The ’70s gave us a magical and ALISON KLESMAN 50 years of astroimaging
unique time in astronomy. Taking pictures of celestial
32 objects has come a long way
7
ANN DRUYAN
How amateur since this magazine started. QUANTUM GRAVITY
astronomy has evolved MICHAEL E. BAKICH Everything you need to
Our hobby has gone know about the universe
through some major 60 this month: get a new
changes since August 1973. Send us your best look at a martian moon,
MICHAEL E. BAKICH observing story see the GRB linked to a
Win a Celestron scope supernova, and witness
36 by telling us your most the Starship explosion.
Sky This Month interesting night-sky tale.
Saturn’s time to shine. MICHAEL E. BAKICH
MARTIN RATCLIFFE
IN EVERY ISSUE
AND ALISTER LING 68 From the Editor 4
Ask Astro Astro Letters 6
Greatest hits.
New Products 67
Reader Gallery 70
Advertiser Index 73
Breakthrough 74
ONLINE
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FROM THE EDITOR
Astronomy celebrates
Editor David J. Eicher
Assistant Design Director Kelly Katlaps
EDITORIAL
Senior Production Editor Elisa R. Neckar
50 years
Senior Editors Alison Klesman, Mark Zastrow
Web Editor Jake Parks
Editorial Assistant Samantha Hill
ART
Illustrator Roen Kelly
Fifty years ago, Steve Walther, Production Specialist Jodi Jeranek
a young astronomy and jour- CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Michael E. Bakich, Bob Berman, Adam Block,
nalism student, had a dream. Molly Wakeling, Martin George, Tony Hallas, Phil Harrington,
At first a college project, Astronomy Alister Ling, Stephen James O’Meara, Martin Ratcliffe,
Raymond Shubinski, Richard Talcott
magazine was eventually launched in
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
full force. The first issue was published Buzz Aldrin, Marcia Bartusiak, Jim Bell, Timothy Ferris,
in August 1973 and featured a speckle Alex Filippenko, Adam Frank, John S. Gallagher lll,
Daniel W. E. Green, William K. Hartmann, Paul Hodge,
interferogram of the star Betelgeuse on Edward Kolb, Stephen P. Maran, Brian May, S. Alan Stern,
the cover. By 1980, the magazine had James Trefil
become the most widely read title on

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we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Chief Financial Officer Christine Metcalf
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I missed the first decade, joining Vice President, Human Resources Sarah A. Horner
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journey through the exploration of the Retention Manager Kathy Steele
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David J. Eicher in
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4 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2023

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ASTRO LET TERS
With intensity article gave the name of the star (Alnitak) and how to
I have enjoyed Bob Berman’s pronounce it. It told the distance to the star in light-
articles for many years and con- years and described the basic astrophysics of the star,
tinue to do so. Just a comment and how it compares to other stars. It told about the
regarding his April 2023 column past and future for this object in Earth-like terms (ref-
“Danger and glory”: He men- erencing the first appearance of grasses in prehistory)
tioned how difficult it is to view and outcome of its stellar evolution. — Richard Clark,
the Horsehead Nebula with an Centerville, OH
amateur scope. And it is.
The Horsehead Nebula in the constellation Orion However, with larger scopes
is a popular target for amateur astronomers, but using a hydrogen beta filter, it is Glowing crater
can pose a challenge to view, depending on the
type of equipment used. PATRICK KUYPER doable. Even with small scopes, I read Stephen O’Meara’s March 2023 column
it is easy to see it if one uses an (“Atwood’s flash,” about Hypatia crater) with great
image intensifier. I have a friend with a 12-inch scope interest because in 2013, I photographed that same area
We welcome
your comments who found it very easily using an image intensifier, of the Moon, trying to see if I could capture Tranquility
at Astronomy Letters, while I found it was easy with my larger 18- and 28-inch Base. Hypatia is just southwest of Tranquility Base, and
P.O. Box 1612, scopes. But of course, an intensifier is expensive. I wanted to compare my photo with the image of that
Waukesha, WI 53187; — Robert Douglas, San Francisco, CA area printed in the article to see how accurate I was in
or email to letters@ the placement of the landing site. I was happy to see
astronomy.com .
that I was right. The column also mentioned that “under
Please include your
name, city, state, and
Clear definitions the right geometry, a ray of sunlight can slice across
country. Letters may Bob Berman’s column on a star in Orion’s belt (April Hypatia’s otherwise shadowed crater floor.” And when
be edited for space 2023) contained everything a reader like me would I looked at my image of Hypatia I saw, for the first time,
and clarity. like to see from stories in Astronomy magazine. The the Hypatia ray! — Jay C. Dahl, Rolling Meadows, IL
O
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GO! Plan your trip at visitplano.com.

QUANTUM GRAVITY
QG EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE UNIVERSE THIS MONTH
SNAPSHOT
HOPE
BUZZES
DEIMOS
A new look at
Mars’ smaller
moon highlights
its mysterious
origin.
Mars looms large, but the highlight
of this shot is the Red Planet’s
smallest moon: Deimos, just
7.7 miles (12.4 kilometers) wide.
The close-up was taken by the
United Arab Emirates’ Hope
spacecraft, which has been orbiting
the Red Planet since 2021. On
March 10, Hope made its first of
several planned flybys of Deimos,
sending back unprecedented photo-
graphs of the moon’s farside. “This
was approximately 100 kilometers
EMIRATES MARS MISSION. BOTTOM FROM LEFT: NASA, ESA, JOSEPH OLMSTED (STSCI); NASA/JPL-CALTECH/IPAC; ISPACE
[62 miles] up, and I don’t believe

we will get that close again,” Hessa
Al Matroushi, the science lead for
the Emirates Mars Mission, tells
Astronomy. The flyby allowed the
probe’s two spectrometers to record
crucial data about the moon’s
composition. They suggest Deimos
is made of material similar to Mars
itself and not the carbon-rich rock
that would be expected if Deimos
was a captured asteroid, as scien-
tists once suspected. That supports HOT DOUBLE QUASAR SALT TRAIL LOST LANDER
The HAKUTO-R
theories that both Deimos and BYTES The Hubble Space
Telescope found
Data from the NASA/ESA
Solar and Heliospheric Mission 1 robotic lander,
Phobos — Mars’ other moon — that J0749+2255 is a Observatory show that developed by Tokyo-
formed in orbit when a large object, rare binary quasar. the asteroid Phaethon’s based startup ispace,
perhaps a dwarf planet, struck Mars It hosts two active cometlike tail is not crashed on the Moon’s
in the distant past. — TOM METCALFE supermassive black dust, as previously surface April 25 in a bid
holes at the centers thought, but glowing to make the first private
of merging galaxies, sodium atoms. soft lunar landing. A
shown in this 2019 attempt by an
illustration. Israeli firm also failed.
QUANTUM GRAVITY
THE BRIGHTEST GAMMA-RAY BURST

MAY HAVE SPAWNED A SUPERNOVA
seconds. “Most, but not all, of these
long GRBs have been associated with
a supernova, which has emerged 10 or
20 days later,” University of Cardiff
astrophysicist Stephen Smartt, co-leader
of the new study, tells Astronomy.
There have been a few exceptions,
Smartt says, where no supernova was
seen after a long GRB, but those were
peculiar cases. So it’s of great interest
to see whether this brightest GRB yet
meets expectations or turns out to be an
exception. But because GRB 221009A’s
initial radiation outburst was so strong,
detecting a supernova signature buried
within it is an extremely difficult task.
Smartt and his doctoral student
Michael Fulton led a team that used
the PanSTARRS telescope in Hawaii
and data from other telescopes around
the world to monitor the light from
the dimming object until it passed out
of sight behind the Sun in December.
The team says that even as the GRB
dimmed overall, they saw evidence that
the light curve contained a slight bump
in brightness where it didn’t fade as
BLAST RADIUS. The powerful gamma-ray quickly as expected. That bump, they
burst GRB 221009A generated rings of dust,
On Oct. 9, 2022, NASA’s Swift 19 of which are captured here by the European say, matches well with predictions for
and Fermi observatories detected Space Agency’s XMM-Newton X-ray the telltale brightening signature of
the brightest gamma-ray burst (GRB) observatory. The observatory recorded 20 a supernova, as the material it ejects
dust rings in all — triple the number previously
ever seen: GRB 221009A. Astronomers seen around a GRB. The largest ring in this slams into and heats surrounding gas.
around the world quickly turned as image is the size of the Full Moon on the sky. One other team has also reported
ESA/XMM-NEWTON/M. RIGOSELLI (INAF)
many telescopes as possible to its signs of a buried supernova, and some
location, ultimately spending more than researchers are convinced, says Robert
two months collecting follow-up data. Gamma-ray bursts are the most Kirshner, director of the Thirty Meter
Since then, some have concluded that intense outpourings of energy known Telescope International Observatory
evidence of a supernova could be buried in the universe. But their exact nature project in Hawaii and a supernovae
in the glow of the GRB’s aftermath. If is still a matter of ongoing research. expert, who was not involved in either
confirmed, the find would support the Astronomers think that GRBs are study. But he adds that others have
prevailing view that GRBs are part of sometimes caused by particularly looked at data, including from the
the explosive process that sees massive massive stars that go supernova and James Webb Space Telescope, and don’t
stars collapse into black holes. collapse directly to a black hole. But see any signs of a supernova.
A study analyzing the light curve other GRBs may result from two Smartt adds, “If we don’t find a
and possible supernova signature of colliding neutron stars — or perhaps supernova, that’s potentially more
GRB 221009A was published March 28 different processes altogether. exciting,” since that would require
in a special issue of The Astrophysical GRB 221009A is categorized as a long a complete rethink of the models.
Journal Letters devoted to the event. GRB — one that lasts longer than a few — DAVID L. CHANDLER

QUICK
TAKES
SpaceX Starship explodes webcast. “Everything
after clearing the tower
SUPER NO GOOD
minutes after launch was icing on the cake.” In
a statement, the company X-ray observations indicate that
said it “learned a tre- when stars go supernova, the
blast wave of debris slams into
A ROAR OF CHEERS and the rocket to slide off the pad mendous amount about
and heats surrounding gas, which
rocket boosters arose as as it began its ascent. Just the vehicle and ground
could send lethal amounts of X-ray
SpaceX’s integrated Starship 85 seconds later, the flight’s systems today that will
radiation to Earth-like planets over
and Super Heavy booster, fate was sealed when SpaceX help us improve on future
100 light-years away.
the most powerful launch lost control of the booster’s flights of Starship.”
system ever created, lifted central 13 engines. Three Starship is intended to MEMORY WIPE
off the launch pad in Boca minutes into the flight, the be a fully reusable space- Meteorites are often identified
Chica, Texas, at 8:33 A.M. CDT booster failed to separate craft that can carry both by testing whether they attract
on April 20. It was the first from Starship. Perhaps sur- cargo and astronauts to a magnet — but doing so erases
test flight of the combined prisingly, the stack remained the Moon and beyond. A the rock’s billions-of-years-old
394-foot-tall (120 meters) intact as it began to tumble, version of the vehicle is magnetic record, including
rocket stack. flipping end over end. The expected to play a pivotal potential information about
Starship’s flight plan called rocket peaked at 24.2 miles role in the Artemis 3 and planetary formation and
for it to complete nearly one (39 km) high before losing 4 missions, scheduled for evolution, a study finds.
full orbit of Earth, reentering altitude. SpaceX commanded 2025 and 2028, respec-
the atmosphere and land- the rocket to self-destruct, tively, by serving as the JUICED UP
ing in the Pacific Ocean though it did so only after a lunar landing vehicle car- The European Space Agency’s
about 62 miles (100 kilometers) lag of about 40 seconds — rying crew and equipment Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer lifted
northwest of Kauai. another issue for engineers to the Moon’s surface. off from French Guiana April 14,
But not all was well as to troubleshoot. SpaceX founder and beginning an eight-year journey
the rocket lifted off: Multiple Despite its brevity, the flight CEO Elon Musk said on to the jovian system.
engines did not fire, causing is still considered by SpaceX his Twitter account that
to be a success. “To get this the company hopes to METAL POOR, LIFE RICH?
The ability of an Earth-like planet
far is amazing,” SpaceX’s attempt another Starship
to sustain a protective layer of
broadcast host and engineer test flight within a few
ozone hinges in part on its star’s
Kate Tice said during the months. — SAMANTHA HILL
composition, models show. Suns
with fewer heavy elements emit
more UV-C radiation — which
helps generate ozone — while
metal-rich stars emit more ozone-
destroying UV-B radiation.
DUNE SEA
Images and measurements from
China’s Zhurong rover on Mars
show evidence that small pockets
of frozen water may have melted
and run across the planet’s dunes
as recently as 400,000 years ago.
STAR CHILDREN
The likelihood of space tourists
having sex and possibly
conceiving children in space —
with unknown consequences for
fetal development — pose
bioethical and reputational risks to
LAUNCH SEQUENCE. SpaceX’s Starship made it off the launch pad, but several of its 33 Raptor engines did the space tourism industry, warns
not fire. The rocket stack began tumbling through the air and managers eventually commanded it to self- an international group including
destruct (inset). SPACEX
scientists and clinicians.
— MARK ZASTROW
STRANGE UNIVERSE
Celestial half- of Astronomy was accompanied by an exciting era of

cosmic discoveries — perhaps the most exciting ever
— where every issue was a portal into astounding new
century medals knowledge. But how could anyone have known that
1973 would be the optimum time to unveil a new pub-
lication that blended astounding discoveries with
Can anything beat the last 50 years of astro-discoveries? innovative, cutting-edge images? There was only one
possible explanation: The editors were sent here from
the future.
Science demands evidence! Very well. Let’s prove
that these past 50 years really have been packed with an
unprecedented number of mind-twisting discoveries,
enough to overcome those unique late 20th-century
publishing jinxes. How do the past five decades com-
pare with earlier half-century historical periods?
Here are a few examples. In 1543, Nicolaus
Copernicus published his heliocentric theory, saying
Earth orbits the Sun, and then 29 years later, Tycho
Brahe discovered the brightest supernova in centuries.
Or what about Dutch eyeglass-maker Hans Lippershey’s
inventing the telescope in 1608, while Johannes Kepler
completed his third and final law of planetary motion
just 11 years later? Or Isaac Newton’s inventing the
reflecting telescope in 1668 but arguably getting topped
by Ole Roemer’s accurately measuring the speed of light
How could the editors
of Astronomy have
eight years later?
known to launch the Most of us know what works and what doesn’t. There is also this game-changing pair of mind-
magazine at such a When my pal Seth Shostak explained to me rattlers that turned our cosmos upside down. In
good time for the
field? WAVE BREAK MEDIA LTD/ how SETI hunts for possible aliens, the meth- 280 b.c., on the Greek island of Samos, Aristarchus
DREAMSTIME.COM odology sounded impressive even if success at locating provided the first-ever estimate of the Earth-Sun dis-
ETs seemed as doubtful as scanning individual Super tance. He also insisted that Earth orbits the Sun, not the
Bowl attendees’ faces at the turnstile and discovering other way around. (He wrote this 1,800 years ahead of
that some are lizard people. Copernicus!) And just 40 years after that, the
Launching Astronomy magazine in 1973 guy in charge of the Library of Alexandria,
seemed to display a similarly implausible Launching Eratosthenes, not only announced that our
optimism. Was the subject popular with a Astronomy planet is round — a fact still disputed by
broad enough audience? Would the maga- internet conspiracy dummies — but calcu-
zine encounter competition? Furthermore,
magazine lated and published its circumference to
major publishing changes were afoot in the in 1973 within 5 percent of its true value. He used
early 1970s. Long-established publishing seemed to math alone, without ever once setting foot
houses were folding, and the initial transfor- display outside Egypt.
mation to digital was underway — a harbin- implausible Those events might outclass John
ger of today, when most people stare at Dobson’s inexpensive “Lazy Susan” mount
screens. I’d just returned from four years
optimism. in the hot news department, but can they
overseas, post-college, and thought the new overcome the sheer swarms of astro-
magazine looked amazing. But would it persevere? headlines that have kept us sleepless since this magazine
Astronomy was born just before the first-ever U.S. first took flight? And could anyone but time travelers
landers, the Vikings, rewrote the Red Planet’s story- have predicted that astoundingly fecund half-century
BY BOB BERMAN book. Then the Pioneers launched and went on to of revelations?
Bob’s recent book, become the first crafts to permanently escape the solar I’ll let you decide. Regardless, to my biased eyes, the
Earth-Shattering system. They were followed by the Voyagers, with their magazine is beautiful enough for its ancestry not even
(Little, Brown and
exquisite close-ups of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, to matter.
Company, 2019),
explores the greatest and dozens of their satellites.
cataclysms that have In the ensuing years, huge new telescopes were built. BROWSE THE “STRANGE UNIVERSE” ARCHIVE
shaken the universe. Exoplanets were discovered. As it turns out, the launch AT www.Astronomy.com/Berman

Discover the universe at Lowell Observatory!
Explore the past, present, and future of stargazing
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Astronomy magazine 1973-2023
On Sept. 30, 1974, the
Milwaukee Sentinel
published a story on
Stephen Walther and
his nascent magazine.
FRAMED ARTICLE: SCOTT KRALL.
WOOD BACKGROUND: NATALLIA
KHLAPUSHYNA/DREAMSTIME.COM
The origins of
ASTRONOMY
MAGAZINE Dickinson (eastern regional editor),
Richard Berry (technical editor), Henry
Phillips (associate editor), Mary Jane
Lamers (staff writer), and David Schwartz
(production manager). Richard would con-
Steve Walther’s college project sparked a tinue on for many years as editor, while
sadly Henry died quite young.
revolutionary idea. BY DAVID WALTHER With additional staff, the team moved
into a larger downtown space, at Broadway
and Mason Street. It was a comfortable
group of people with a good sense of
ON MAY 27, 1973, a young journalist named Stephen Walther humor. I remember the humorous way
filed incorporation papers to begin publishing Astronomy they treated the discovery that Uranus
has rings.
magazine. The first issue was August 1973; by 1981, it was the
At a very early date, David Eicher came
largest-circulation title on the subject. It retains this distinction to Stephen’s attention. He was impressed
by a factor of two. Tragically, Stephen died a few years after the by what the teenager had created in his
founding of the title. Here David Walther, older brother of newsletter, Deep Sky Monthly, a publica-
tion for small-telescope observers. Stephen
Stephen, recounts Astronomy’s earliest days.
tried to coax David into joining the maga-
Stephen Andrew Walther, founder of astronomy, and that his magazine could zine. That did not happen during his
Astronomy magazine, was born in best serve its needs. lifetime.
Stevens Point, Wisconsin, July 22, 1944. Taking advice from his accounting Stephen collapsed in August 1976,
From childhood, Stephen was pas- firm, he created a subtle and complex at a celebration for staff and friends at
sionate about amateur astronomy. His model using testing and mail campaigns Villa Terrace in Milwaukee. At first, his
mother supported this astronomy inter- to get his magazine off the ground. An condition was diagnosed as work-related
est, and to her despair, his struggle with initial test mailing of exhaustion. But later, X-rays
mathematics was a roadblock to a career 250,000 names returned a revealed a terminal glioblas-
in what he loved most. He entered the response for an initial issue toma, an aggressive form of
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, with 14,000 subscribers. brain cancer.
and in time he found his outlet in the Additional short-term Bob Maas was hired
journalism department, where he created financing enabled a mailing to run the company while
a blueprint for the publication of a maga- to 1.5 million names, which Stephen was ill, which he did
zine for amateur astronomers. After built the subscription list to until Stephen’s death on
graduation, he came to Milwaukee, 31,000. That was enough for Sept. 14, 1977. Bob continued
where he worked for a while in public the magazine to survive, pay running the company under
relations. But he never lost his interest in off debts, and build onward. August 1973: first issue.
my ownership thereafter.
the magazine, so after a few years he left The magazine’s initial What he contributed to the
his job and devoted all of his time to the home was in a loftlike office over a growth, management, and salvation of the
creation of what would become seamstress shop on Mason Street in magazine was invaluable and cannot be
Astronomy. Milwaukee. The initial staff consisted of overstated.
Stephen was an admirer of what was Stephen along with Penny Oldenburger David Eicher eventually joined
the most prominent astronomy magazine and a few others. Penny was listed as Astronomy in 1982, fulfilling Stephen’s
at the time, Sky & Telescope, but he felt managing editor. I saw her as Stephen’s hope, and Bob Maas facilitated the sale of
that it was too technical to serve the chief assistant, and she ran all the magazine to Kalmbach Publishing Co.
needs of amateurs. He deeply believed operations. in 1985.
that the amateur community provided Later additions to the staff included
an essential adjunct to professional Craig Brown (art director), Terence David Walther is a retired attorney.
The ’70s gave us a magical and unique time in astronomy. BY ANN DRUYAN
Carl Sagan and

Ann Druyan
THE MYTHIC ACHIEVEMENTS of the
stroll together during
the heyday of the
Apollo program gave our civilization a jolt of self-
production of Cosmos.
COURTESY OF ANN DRUYAN
confidence and ambition. It fueled a zeitgeist that
Carl Sagan
promised even greater things. We were on our way
blazed a
unique path forward
to Mars with the Viking landers and to the outer planets and the
in popularizing
astronomy in the
stars with the Voyager probes. Was there anything we could not
1970s and 1980s,
one that would be
accomplish if we simply applied our will and our brains to it?
followed by countless
other astronomers. Yes, there were intimations optimism that we could solve I remember standing in the caf-
NASA of trouble ahead, signs that we the ecological disasters we cre- eteria as the first image from the
were living at odds with our ated just as we had the seem- surface of Mars came in. There
environment. The month before ingly insoluble challenges of were monitors everywhere.
the first Moon landing, the pol- human space travel to the Moon The din of mealtime stopped
luted, oil-slicked Cuyahoga and back. abruptly, as if someone had
River that runs through The atmosphere at NASA’s Jet pressed mute. Everything came
Cleveland burst into flames. Propulsion Lab for the Viking to a halt as the image arrived in
But there was a feeling of landings was downright heady. a series of vertical stripes. When

the picture was complete, we
stood there in awe with our plas-
tic trays. Outside, journalists
from every news-gathering orga-
nization on Earth were waiting
for the scientists to come down-
stairs and interpret the data.
As Carl Sagan would later
write in our Cosmos television
series, this was the fulfillment
of a lifelong dream of his. As a
child, he had stood in an empty
lot in Brooklyn, closed his eyes as
tightly as he could, and tried to many of us to science as he pos-
“wish his way to Mars,” as the sibly could. He could never understand the atmosphere of Carl Sagan was
intimately
fictional hero John Carter had. understand why anyone with Venus, which he described in his involved in the Viking
And now, on that day in 1976, on access to the wonders that sci- Ph.D. thesis, he was more keenly missions to Mars,
which rewrote our
the seventh anniversary of the ence reveals would not want to aware than most of the dangers understanding of the
first Moon landing, scientists share it with everyone. of the greenhouse effect and nearest planet in the
and engineers had found that Carl was also the climate change it solar system. NASA/JPL
“better way” to get there. He worried about the would inevitably

was part of that. And the world future. How could bring. He brought
looked to him, more than any we hope to main- the same prodigious
other individual, to explain what tain the degree of energy to warning
it all meant. democracy we had about these dangers
That was a year before our achieved if most of as he did to his joyful
lives together began, but we were us were excluded love of scientific
already friends. I remember from the methods and discovery.
those thrilling evenings in insights of science? He knew I would never speak for Carl.
Pasadena where four or five of us that a society dependent on Still, I am often asked what he
would sit with Carl, each of us science and high technology would do now if he were alive.
poring over a different image of required a citizenry that under- There is no way of knowing, but
the martian surface, hoping to be stood something of the way they I suspect he would remind us of
the one to discover the anomaly worked. the ancient human tradition of
that no one else had caught yet. That’s why he was such a problem solving, of surmounting
The brand-new galleys of The devoted supporter of Astronomy even the most daunting obstacles
Dragons of Eden on the coffee magazine and the other media in our path. I think he would
PAPER BACKGROUND: VISIVASNC/DREAMSTIME.COM. APOLLO EMBLEM: NASA
table would have to wait. There that served those eager to know wage an all-out campaign to
was a new world to explore. more. He wanted us to stay instill hope about the spectacular
Back then, NASA had a very on the path of exploration, and diversity of worlds and thrilling
different attitude toward public he understood that major pro- possibilities that the future can
outreach than it does today. grams of research and explora- hold if we empower ourselves
Those of us around Carl could tion required an informed with knowledge and act now to Ann Druyan is
sense palpable antagonism constituency. protect the habitability of the the Emmy- and
toward his efforts to attract as As the first person to correctly only home we’ve ever known. Peabody-award-
winning writer,
“Carl wanted us to stay on the path of exploration, and director, and
producer of
he understood that major programs of research and Cosmos, and Carl
exploration required an informed constituency.” Sagan’s widow.
Over half a century, the world’s leading cosmic brand
has had an adventurous ride. BY DAVID J. EICHER
Astronomy magazine’s look changed through the years:

IN MID-SEPTEMBER 1982, I arrived at
our little stone building at AstroMedia
Corp. in Milwaukee for my first day of
YEARS
work. I had no idea what adventures
1973-2023
awaited. I was hired as the junior assistant

editor of Astronomy magazine, and I couldn’t have
been more excited. Straight from Miami University in
southwestern Ohio, I brought the observer’s magazine
I had started in high school, Deep Sky, with me. I was
21, wide-eyed, and ready to explore everything the
astronomy world had to offer — and to report on it too.
This year we celebrate Astronomy’s a speckle interferogram of
50th anniversary. I’ve been on the staff the star Betelgeuse on the cover.
for only 40 of those years, but I’ve seen Steve commenced publishing A Wisconsin native, Steve Walther founded
the majority of the history of this title. Astronomy because he felt the long- Astronomy magazine in 1973 as an outgrowth
of a college journalism project at the University of
established Sky & Telescope was too Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Seven years later, it had
First issues technical for most beginners in the become the largest-circulation magazine on the
topic in the world and has remained so since.
The magazine was founded on May 27, astronomy hobby. In time, both maga- KALMBACH MEDIA CO.
1973, by Stephen Walther, a 29-year-old zines would cover the spectrum well
astronomy enthusiast who began the and coexist for decades.
venture several years earlier as an experi- Astronomy got off to a somewhat by 1974’s “The Zeta Reticuli Incident,”
ment in college. His brother, David uneven start. It did include some impres- which reported on silly claims of a UFO
Walther, was a Milwaukee attorney who sive early contributors. Carl Sagan, Jay abduction — marked a temporary stum-
supported the publication’s launch. Steve Pasachoff, George Abell, Bill Hartmann, ble. Years later, we staff would refer to
put together a dynamic staff of young, and Gerrit Verschuur were among the that as “The Zeta Ridiculi Incident.”
enthusiastic writers and editors, and the title’s earliest authors. Many of the stories The first issue checked in at 48 pages.
first issue appeared in August 1973, with were superb, though a few — exemplified But the title grew in size and rapidly in
EXCLUSIVE REPORT // ANTARCTICA ECLIPSE JOURNEY! p. 24
MAY 2022
Astronomers trace
THE
ORIGIN
OF
TIME p. 16
THE STARS OF
STAR TREK p. 40
Bob Berman Secrets How to ID

on viewing of the objects in your
the Sun p. 13 meteorites p. 52 images p. 46
Richard Berry became the magazine’s editor following Steve
Walther’s death and began an important 15-year tenure
overseeing Astronomy’s growth into the world’s leading title on the
subject. KALMBACH MEDIA CO.
Robert Burnham was another major influence in the magazine’s

history. A friend of Richard Berry’s who joined the staff as an
associate editor in 1978, he would serve as the engine driving much
of the magazine’s content. He became editor-in-chief following
Berry’s tenure. KALMBACH MEDIA CO.
technical began publishing Odyssey, a children’s

editor, magazine about the universe. Expanding,
and would it moved into a Lannon-stone building
become the on St. Paul Avenue in Milwaukee, a
magazine’s structure that also served as David
chief driving Walther’s law office, adjacent to the
force for a Summerfest grounds. Previously, it had
decade and been a bar that occasionally featured
circulation. In the summer of 1976, with a half. He became editor and worked as mud wrestling.
momentum rocking, Astronomy pub- such until 1992.
lished an oversized “History of American Under Richard’s leadership, the edito- Great times
Astronomy” issue and Steve decided to rial focus of the magazine sharpened. When I arrived in 1982, the hobby of
throw a big party for contributors and This was also a bit of a golden age for astronomy was booming. Star parties
friends at a lakeside conference center in astronomy, with the afterglow of the and astronomy conventions were at
Milwaukee. Beside a pool, drink in hand, Apollo era still alight. In 1975 and ’76, record levels, and so too were astronomy
he collapsed. The next day he was diag- Comet West (C/1975 V1) dazzled observ- club memberships. Pushed forward
nosed with an aggressive brain tumor, ers, the Viking landers explored Mars, by the “Dobsonian revolution” — the
and he died about a year later. and the launch and anticipated discover- technology that allowed building
ies of the Voyager missions had everyone simple telescopes with large mirrors —
Picking up steam abuzz. Henry Phillips joined the staff amateurs were discovering countless
The earliest team was small. The maga- as an associate editor; tragically, soon new targets to seek out in the sky. The
zine established an office in Milwaukee, thereafter, he also died young. Robert anticipation for the long-awaited return
first on Broadway and then nearby on Burnham and Dewey Schwartzenburg of Halley’s Comet was building. And my
Mason Street. Terry Dickinson briefly came on as associate editors. little publication, Deep Sky, was now a
joined the staff as editor to support Steve, Astro events were cooking and by quarterly. It had started as a monthly,
as well as Managing Editor Penny 1981, when big stories rolled in from the first created on my dad’s chemistry
Oldenburger, Assistant Editor Ray Voyager results, Astronomy exceeded the office mimeograph machine, and now
Villard, Art Director Craig Brown, and old standby, S&T, in circulation. It has I huddled in a closet (figuratively!) one
a few others. After Steve’s diagnosis, been the largest-circulation publication day a week working on it, cranking
Richard Berry joined the staff as on the topic ever since. The group also away on Astronomy the rest of the time.

Its companion quarterly was Telescope serving and most valuable editors,
Making, founded by Richard Berry to Richard Talcott, joined the group. The
cover the equipment side of the hobby. apparition of Halley’s Comet gave the
By the early 1980s, the magazine had astronomy hobby a big boost. (Bright
evolved into a balanced and quite serious comets always do.) We had large issues
format. The science of astronomy got with great coverage of the comet’s
NASA/JPL
front-of-the-book treatment and hobby appearance, the science learned from it,
topics drifted toward the back, the two and of course all the observational and
worlds separated by a central update on astroimaging results. Great sadness pre-
sky events for the month and a sprawling vailed, of course, with the explosion of
Star Dome evening sky map. The staff
grew and evolved. We now had my fellow
Launched in 1977, the two space shuttle Challenger, but interest in
astronomy, even as we moved from the
assistant editor Frank Reddy, Kate Bond Voyager probes gave us the first Apollo era into the routine coverage of
was managing editor, and Robert space shuttles, was white-hot.
Burnham had been promoted to senior up-close tour of the solar And then we moved again: In 1990,
editor. Our art director was Tom Hunt. system. In 1979, 1980, and 1981, Kalmbach shifted from Milwaukee out
into the surrounding countryside, to a
Coming under Kalmbach explorations of Jupiter and glass-and-steel building complex that was
Big change arrived in 1985, just as we
were ramping up the excitement over
Saturn and their moons far more spacious and modern. We were
in Waukesha, on the edge of an upscale
Halley’s Comet. Our AstroMedia Corp. revolutionized our knowledge. suburb called Brookfield. And that is
group, numbering about 40 people, where the company, now known as
functioned essentially as a big family Kalmbach Media Co., has been ever since.
— an extended astronomy club, if
you will. Then Kalmbach Publishing years in Kalmbach’s headquarters on The ’90s
Co., a company across town with Milwaukee’s 7th Street. The acquisition The 1990s were filled with cool stories
multiple titles in other areas, bought was of course very beneficial to to cover. Spacecraft missions had us visit
us. At first, it seemed like we had Astronomy in numerous ways. Famous an asteroid and explore Mars and Jupiter
been swallowed up by IBM. Kalmbach for its linchpin titles Model Railroader in unprecedented detail — including
had perhaps 150 employees at that and Trains, Kalmbach gave us marketing sending the first rover, Sojourner, to visit
time, and functioned much more by strength our astronomical title had another planet.
the book than AstroMedia. We soon previously lacked. Comets were also a recurring theme
moved across town to spend several Another of our brand’s longest during the ’90s. In 1993, astronomers
Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker and David
Levy discovered a comet that was des-
tined to slam into Jupiter’s cloud tops. In
1994, that incredible event was visible in
small telescopes and drew many new
people to the hobby of backyard astron-
omy. Moreover, after a bit of a drought,
two very bright comets graced our skies
in 1995, 1996, and 1997. Comet Hale-
Bopp was a physically huge comet and a
bright naked-eye sight, visible for a long
time, and Comet Hyakutake was also
bright and wowed observers and imagers
with an incredibly long tail.
Richard Talcott joined the staff in 1986 The 1990s also marked an era of
as an assistant editor. He has played a
significant role in the magazine’s history major change at Astronomy. In 1992,
ever since, rising to senior editor and Richard Berry left the magazine and
becoming centrally involved with many
important aspects of the title. KALMBACH MEDIA CO.
Robert Burnham succeeded him as chief
editor. Telescope Making was Richard’s
Assistant Editor David J. Eicher is baby, and so the company decided to end
interviewed on television in 1984 at
Astronomy’s offices in Milwaukee. The its publication, and also my quarterly
editors of the magazine remain popular Deep Sky with it. The company wanted
radio and television sources for scientific
discoveries and upcoming celestial events me to focus exclusively on the larger
to this day. ROBERT BURNHAM
The age, size, and fate of the universe
came into sharper view, as did the nature
of black holes. We also experienced a
resurgence of exploration of the solar
system, with missions to Jupiter, Saturn
and its moon Titan, the first landing on
an asteroid, the first cometary material
returned to Earth, and a campaign of
more martian rovers. Once again the
U.S. space program experienced tragedy,
though, with the loss of the shuttle
Columbia.
The magazine expanded its activities
to create and develop its website,
Astronomy.com, and covered a huge
variety of science and hobby stories. Our
staff during this period added such folks
as managing editors Pat Lantier and
Dick McNally, and another longtime and
valuable editor, Michael E. Bakich.
Robert Burnham also returned as a
In 2013, Astronomy’s staff posed for a portrait during the last era before the current one. This senior editor for a time, as did Frank
enthusiastic group included, back row (left to right): Editorial Associate Valerie Penton, Illustrator
Elisabeth Roen Kelly, Managing Editor Ronald Kovach, Senior Graphic Designer Chuck Braasch,
Reddy. Our art director position evolved,
Publisher Kevin Keefe, Associate Editor Sarah Scoles, Assistant Editor Karri Stock, and Associate Editor including Carole Ross, Tom Ford, and
Liz Kruesi; front row (left to right): Senior Editor Michael E. Bakich, Editor David J. Eicher, Art Director LuAnn Williams Belter, who served for
LuAnn Williams Belter, and Senior Editor Richard Talcott. KALMBACH MEDIA CO.
many years. And for many years, an
extraordinarily talented illustrator,
Elisabeth Roen Kelly, has produced
Astronomy magazine. We also sold diagrams that have enlivened the
Odyssey, which had always been a bit of a magazine’s pages.
challenge as a title aimed at kids on the
periodical newsstand. We went from a Moving into
four-title house to one focusing merely on the modern era
the large title Steve Walther had begun. The 2010s saw the nature of discovery
It was a fun time on the magazine and exploration only accelerate. We had
staff, but also one of considerable transi- the first spacecraft that orbited Mercury,
tion. Alan Dyer, Jeff Kanipe, Dave the winding down of the Space Shuttle
Bruning, and John Shibley were editors Program, the discovery of gravitational
for a time; Rhoda Sherwood was a man- waves, and the great Curiosity rover
aging editor with a big personality. Steve landing on Mars. A superb highlight
Cole also served as managing editor One of several associate editors for the came with the final step in the long-
before moving on. Bob Naeye and Tracy title in the 2000s, Liz Kruesi poses at ago planned exploration of the major
Staedter joined us as members of the her desk, busily working on a story about solar system when the New Horizons
solar system exploration. She is famous
team. When Robert Burnham decided to among the staff for originating the story title spacecraft flew past Pluto and its system
depart in 1996, a New York generalist, “Corona Light” for a piece about a total solar of moons. The Voyagers, launched way
eclipse. DAVID J. EICHER
Bonnie Gordon, took over as editor. In back in the ’70s, made their way past the
a few weeks I went from associate editor heliosphere, far out into deep space.
to senior editor to managing editor. How could there be more? There was.
Bonnie’s tenure lasted a few years, and As we know, astronomy was accelerating We experienced the first spacecraft to
in 2002 I was made the chief editor, and into an time of exploration and discovery orbit a comet, also sending a small lander
have been in that role now for more than that had us scrambling to keep up. The onto the comet’s surface. And we wit-
20 years. Hubble Space Telescope’s countless nessed the first image of the shadow of
findings, the exponential growth of a black hole.
Expanding science discoveries of extrasolar planets, and This incredible era in astronomy and
The new millennium delivered an a wide variety of findings on “big astrophysics saw further changes in the
amazing and active era for the magazine. questions” gave us lots to adjust to. Astronomy magazine staff. Our group of

associate editors included Liz Kruesi, Our current group came together on
Bill Andrews, Sarah Scoles, Eric Betz, and the cusp of the pandemic. Two of our
Korey Haynes. Alison Klesman joined us most experienced and longest serving
as an associate editor and subsequently editors, Rich and Michael, retired.
EHT COLLABORATION
became a senior editor. Jake Parks came Longtime art director LuAnn also retired
on as an associate editor and later became and was succeeded by Kelly Katlaps. I
our digital editor. Our copy editor, Karri was the sole long-term employee left.
Stock, soon expanded her role into pro- Steve George, who serves as editor of our
duction editor. For years, our publisher sister publication, Discover, and is also
was Kevin Keefe, a veteran who had been editorial vice president for the entire
the editor of Trains magazine but who
also had a passion for astronomy.
In 2019, astronomers using company, became a close colleague. A
dynamo, Elisa Neckar is our senior pro-
As we approached the pandemic era, the Event Horizon Telescope duction editor, and she keeps the work
things got a bit strange, as they did for
everyone. The science of astronomy kept
produced this first image moving for both Astronomy and
Discover. Not only did Alison become a
rocking, and the hobby experienced a of the shadow of the senior editor, but we added Senior Editor
renewal as people holed up at home Mark Zastrow and Editorial Assistant
looked to explore the cosmos from their black hole at the center Samantha Hill. Most recently, Associate
backyards. We worked remotely for about of the galaxy M87. Black hole Editor Daniela Mata has joined us. We
two years, and I learned that I could have have a terrific, young, knowledgeable
run Astronomy from anywhere — say, dreams were coming true. group that loves bringing you the best
even the Moon. from the world of astronomy.
And the world of astronomy continues
at high velocity, showing no signs of
slowing down. In 2021, we experienced
the first powered flight on another planet
when the small helicopter Ingenuity flew
around Mars. The first spacecraft to
enter the Sun’s atmosphere, the Parker
Solar Probe, returned incredible data.
And although Hubble is still working,
with NASA’s launch of the James Webb
Space Telescope, we have now entered a
new era of amazing discoveries that
should last for 30 years.
The life of Astronomy magazine has
been an amazing journey. With 50 years
now in the books, one can only wonder
about the incredible knowledge and expe-
riences we’ll see in astronomy in the next
50 years. The magazine has been the
largest-circulation title in the field for
more than 40 of its 50 years. I know that
it will continue on, reporting the most
exciting discoveries and amazing things
to see in the sky, in a unique and unprec-
edented way. And I hope you’ll be with us
in this shared sense of discovery for
many years to come.
David J. Eicher is editor of Astronomy, the

author of 26 books on science and history,
and a member of the board of the Starmus
The current Astronomy staff includes, front row (left to right): Sarah Gerkhardt, Jake Parks, Festival and of Lowell Observatory. He has
Alison Klesman, David J. Eicher, Mark Zastrow, Nicole McGuire, and Melissa Valuch; back enjoyed his decades at Astronomy more
row (left to right): Jodi Jeranek, Michelle LaPinske, Samantha Hill, Elisabeth Roen Kelly, and Kelly
Katlaps. KALMBACH MEDIA CO.: SCOTT KRALL
than he can express.
YEARS OF
SCIENCE

From exploring upcoming missions
to reporting fantastic finds, the
magazine has watched the field grow.
BY ALISON KLESMAN
CARL SAGAN WROTE in the (KBOs) now known, Pluto

June 1974 issue of Astronomy: “Clearly should be considered one of
the best time to be alive is when you them. Then, in November
start out wondering and end up 2005, astronomer Mike Brown
knowing. There is only said, “Start rewriting
one generation in the the textbooks.” The KBO
whole history of mankind 2003 UB313, discovered in
in that position. Us.” July 2003, was likely bigger
In its 50-year tenure, than Pluto. Should the solar
this magazine has seen system now have 10 planets?
breathtaking change — “Pluto gets the boot!” This stunningly detailed enhanced-color
far too much progress to appeared in December 2006, image of Pluto, now widely known, ran above the
triumphant headline “The Pluto system explored!”
mention it all. But, for this following the International in the November 2015 issue. NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI
special anniversary issue, June 1974 issue Astronomical Union’s deci-
let’s highlight a few key sion to reclassify it as a
journeys we’ve made, as seen through dwarf planet — a category it now followed New Horizons leading up to
the lens of science stories that have shared with Ceres and 2003 UB313 the July 2015 flyby. That was a huge
appeared in Astronomy magazine. (renamed Eris). There are currently year for Pluto in our pages, culminat-
five recognized dwarf planets; we’ve ing with a triumphant November
The road to the since added Makemake and Haumea. headline: “The Pluto system explored!”
outer solar system Nonetheless, Pluto remained a last No longer envisioned as a cold, quiet,
When Astronomy began publishing in frontier of sorts. A May 2002 story dead world, Pluto was a complex and
1973, the solar system as we knew it mentioned the tentatively confirmed active “icy wonderland,” Stern wrote.
was a very different place. It had nine New Horizons mission, set to launch The data delivered surprises at every
planets and we had not yet seen the in 2006 and reach the distant world turn, including a possible slushy ocean
worlds beyond the main belt up close. in 2015 or 2016. Astronomy eagerly beneath the surface.
Pluto was the most distant object New Horizons has since returned
known, though a Kuiper Belt of icy up-close views of Arrokoth (formerly
objects was thought to lie beyond it. named Ultima Thule), a smaller KBO
As early as 1978, articles appeared beyond Pluto and the farthest world
asking whether Pluto was really a ever imaged. Astronomy has covered
planet. This oft-repeated theme picked how its strange shape and intriguing
up speed as the Kuiper Belt sprang past have shed light on a cold, dark
into reality following the August 1992 region of our solar system that, when
discovery of 1992 QB1. In a December this publication began, was entirely
story that year, a quote from S. Alan theoretical.
Stern likened its discovery to that of
Ceres, the first known asteroid. Stern’s Quasars and
stories have continued to update read- supermassive black holes
ers on outer solar system topics In five decades, we’ve learned much
throughout the years. The first Kuiper Belt object found beyond about the galaxies that populate our
ALES UTOUKA/DREAMSTIME.COM
Pluto, 1992 QB1 (indicated with an arrow)

A July 1999 feature by Senior Editor appears as a tiny speck in this discovery image. universe. But solving one particular
Rex Graham asked once again “Is Pluto Astronomy ran the photo in December 1992. As mystery has had far-reaching implica-
more objects were found, astronomers began
a Planet?” Astronomers argued that questioning whether Pluto should be considered tions for our understanding of how
with hundreds of Kuiper Belt objects a planet. DAVID JEWITT/UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI’I those galaxies evolve.
THE CENTRAL ENGINE
PLANET X
Astronomy’s inaugural issue
included an article titled “In Search
of Planet X.” Astronomers thought
an undiscovered planet 300 times
more massive than Earth might
travel on a highly inclined orbit
twice as far from the Sun as
Neptune. The influence of such a
planet could explain observed irreg-
ularities in the movements of
Halley’s Comet.
Planet X faded into history, but a
similar idea appeared in June 2016,
when astronomers led by Mike
Brown discovered a strange cluster-
ing in the orbits of several KBOs, sug-
gesting they’d been nudged by an
unknown planet. The 10-Earth-mass
“Planet Nine” must lie some 600 AU
from the Sun, with an orbit inclined
30° to the ecliptic. Several teams are
now searching for a glimpse of the
faraway, dim world. — A.K.
vast amounts of radiation, while jets

shot out along the poles, sometimes
reaching far beyond the host galaxy. By
the mid-90s, every mention of “quasar”
within our pages stated firmly that
they were powered by supermassive
black holes. Astronomers had also
determined that the numerous classes
A 1982 story featured this now-familiar diagram showing what astronomers considered the of galaxies with bright centers — just
likeliest “central engine” of a quasar: a supermassive black hole. Infalling material in the disk around not quasar bright — also contained
the black hole shines incredibly brightly, generating the light we see, while near-light-speed jets
shoot out from the poles. ASTRONOMY feeding supermassive black holes.
Their differences could be explained by
which way the black hole was oriented
In Astronomy’s fourth year, Over time, quasars began to take relative to Earth and how much
“Quasars: Oddities of Space” discussed shape. A December 1979 feature obscuring dust was (or wasn’t) present.
the blazing beacons discovered just reported that researchers were explor- In 1998, a feature proclaimed that
15 years before. Each of these objects ing the connection between active qua- “supermassive black holes probably
was as bright as some 1,000 Milky sars in distant, young galaxies and lurk in the centers of all the big galax-
Way galaxies, yet emitted its light quiescent, modern-day galaxies, won- ies,” including our own. (Estimates
from a region only about twice the dering whether one might transform then pinned the Milky Way’s black
diameter of Pluto’s orbit — and into the other. (We now know they do.) hole at 2 million solar masses — a tad
astronomers had no idea what pow- The same story noted the Milky Way’s light.) But something else was afoot. A
ered them. The possibilities ranged center showed “uncanny resemblances February 2001 story explained that
from exploding primordial black holes to a scaled-down quasar.” astronomers had previously believed
to objects launched from galactic cores Throughout the 1980s and early these behemoths and their home gal-
to numerous supernovae going off in a ’90s, better observations clinched the axies were largely unaware of each
chain reaction. Or perhaps, as astron- case for quasars as accreting supermas- other. New evidence was throwing
omer Donald Lynden-Bell suggested, sive black holes. Their immense light that idea out the window by showing
they might be related to massive black came from the massive disk formed supermassive black holes and their
holes, one of which could even lurk in as material swirled inward. Friction galaxies had properties that were
the center of the Milky Way. between particles in the disk generated tightly linked. Researchers were

starting to suspect that supermassive
black holes were a vital part of galactic
evolution. By July 2013, astronomers
ZOOMING IN ON THE CMB
had discovered that feedback from
supermassive black holes dramatically
affects the growth of their host galaxy.
It became clear the supermassive black
NASA/WMAP SCIENCE TEAM

holes and their hosts evolve together,
and this relationship has shaped the
galaxies in our universe.
But how did such massive black
holes get there in the first place? This
is an answer we don’t yet have. Stories
in March 2004 and in March 2021
focused on the quest for the answer; the
latter is our most recent on the matter.
It notes that we have now seen super-
NASA/WMAP SCIENCE TEAM

massive black holes just 700 million
years after the Big Bang. There is no
way to build such early black holes
from mergers of smaller black holes.
Perhaps these start out with most of
their mass already in place. Only more
work will tell.
The nature
of the universe
PLANCK COLLABORATION
Astronomy has witnessed numerous
groundbreaking and paradigm-shifting
discoveries in our understanding of the
cosmos.
One such shift began in June 1990,
when Astronomy revealed initial results
from the Cosmic Background Explorer From top to bottom are all-sky maps created by WMAP, COBE, and Planck. With each successive
(COBE), recently launched to observe probe, astronomers’ view of the CMB improved. This has allowed us to determine that tiny variations
in temperature and density led to the cosmos we see today. Finer measurements have also helped
the cosmic microwave background pin down values such as the age of the universe and the makeup of its contents. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
(CMB) radiation left by the Big Bang.
COBE’s picture of a perfectly uniform
Big Bang was a stunning achievement, Before astronomers could get a
but left astronomers wondering how closer look at the CMB, November
galaxies, stars, and planets could have 1998’s “Exploding Stars Tell All”
formed from such smoothness. revealed that observations of distant
Two years later, another story type Ia supernovae made by two com-
appeared. Careful analysis of COBE’s peting groups both indicated our uni-
map showed tiny temperature varia- verse was fated to expand forever. Even
tions — on the order of 0.001 percent more stunning, the expansion rate had
— across the CMB. These variations, recently sped up. “It’s a weird idea that
cosmologists said, were the seeds of all unsettles just about everyone, for it may
structure in the universe. Wanting to mean that some mysterious pressure
be absolutely sure, the researchers had pervades all of space — repelling space
delayed the announcement until they from itself with increasing magnitude
had checked and re-checked their find- as the volume of the universe grows,” A September 1997 feature ended with:
“perhaps someday you’ll even open Astronomy to
ings. COBE’s results now supported a the story read. That mysterious pres- an article titled ‘Case Closed for the Milky Way’s
universe with inflation and “cold” dark sure has been named dark energy, and Giant Black Hole.’ ” In 2022, the Event Horizon
Telescope revealed this image of the Milky Way’s
matter made of particles, wiping out along with dark matter has garnered central supermassive black hole. The case is
several alternative scenarios overnight. frequent features in this publication. now as closed as it can get! EHT COLLABORATION
three satellites’ observations have
AN ACCELERATING UNIVERSE honed our understanding of the
Big Bang and how the universe has
Fainter
25 evolved to its present form.
But what about its future? All we
know is that dark energy holds the
24 key to how the cosmos will end. As of
yet, astronomers cannot measure the
Observed magnitude
Best fit to cosmological parameter determining

23 current data the universe’s fate with enough accu-
racy to differentiate between scenar-
Accelerating ios. The most up-to-date information
22 universe No dark energy on our ideas about the beginning and
end of the universe appears in our
21 January 2021 special issue.
Decelerating
universe
Exoplanets everywhere
20
0.2 0.4 0.6 1.0 Our pages have documented the birth
Brighter Redshift of entire branches of astronomy. One
of the most compelling to emerge has
0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5
Linear scale of the universe relative to today been the study of extrasolar planets.
Let’s start in September 1987.
In 1998, astronomers revealed that observations of distant type Ia supernovae showed the
“Possible Planetary Systems
universe is now expanding faster than in the past. Over the years, this discovery has held up, Discovered” announced that, by
indicating that dark energy is a significant contributing factor in our cosmos. This graph shows the looking for “wobbles” exhibited by
brightness of distant supernovae plotted against their redshift, a proxy for distance. The blue line
shows the best fit to the current observations, which match predictions for an accelerating universe. stars in the presence of an unseen
The white line indicates how bright such supernovae would appear in a universe with no dark energy. orbiting mass, astronomers had found
It predicts that distant explosions should appear brighter than they actually do. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY,
AFTER CARROLL, BRADLEY W. AND OSTLIE, DALE A., AN INTRODUCTION TO MODERN ASTROPHYSICS, 2ND ED., PEARSON EDUCATION, INC., 2007.
two potential gas giant planets: one
each around Gamma (γ) Cephei and
Epsilon (ε) Eridani. (These remained
The Wilkinson Microwave featured the Planck satellite’s first cos- unconfirmed until 2003 and 2000,
Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) launched mology results. Planck gave the most respectively.)
in 2001 to view the CMB with better detailed look at the CMB to date, Skip ahead to December 1991,
resolution. It saw an “absurd universe,” updating our estimates of the uni- when “The First Planet Beyond the
said a November 2003 story, in which verse’s contents to 68.3 percent dark Solar System” reported a Uranus-sized
normal matter made up a miniscule energy, 26.8 percent dark matter, and world around the pulsar PSR 1829-10.
fraction of a percentage of the total 4.9 percent normal matter. It con- Researchers had found it by noting
contents of the cosmos. Instead, dark firmed WMAP’s finding of the uni- regular discrepancies in the timing of
matter and dark energy dominated. verse’s age: 13.8 billion years. These pulses received on Earth, and were
In October 2013, Astronomy values and others derived from the now scrambling to confirm the find
IT’S A BIG SOLAR SYSTEM

This magazine has witnessed issue was devoted to Voyager’s photographs from the Red Planet. tantalizing glimpses from the
many missions uncover the plan- 40th anniversary. “The Martians aren’t to be seen ground. MESSENGER charted
ets, asteroids, and comets of our In the 2000s, Cassini and yet,” he wrote of Viking 1’s finds. Mercury’s unique landscape and
solar system in stunning detail. Huygens returned exquisite “But all conditions for life seem to BepiColombo’s mission to the
The Voyagers dominated much images from the saturnian system. be there, or at least were there in innermost planet is still in its
of Astronomy’s first two decades. (Our March 2018 issue was dedi- the past.” An armada of missions early stages.
Photo-rich stories recount our cated to them.) Jupiter has been since have confirmed that Mars It’s not just planets that we’ve
first looks at Saturn, Uranus, and visited multiple times, including was once warmer and wetter. visited, either. Humankind has sent
Neptune, as well as our second by Galileo, Juno, and soon JUICE Pioneer and then Magellan spacecraft zipping by comets and
glimpses of Jupiter (following and Europa Clipper. unmasked Venus’ geologic com- even shot one with an 800-pound
Pioneer 10, which was featured in William K. Hartmann penned plexity from above, while the (360 kilograms) impactor. We’ve
February 1974). The October 2017 a 1976 article showing the first Soviet Venera missions sent back tagged asteroids the same way,

THE FIRST EXOPLANETS
This illustration appeared in the June 1992 story announcing the discovery of the first planets
beyond our solar system. The worlds circled PSR 1257+12 — the remnant of a massive star. The
system’s third planet was later confirmed. ASTRONOMY: ROBERT WEGNER
and figure out how a planet had even planets circled it. This is recognized
formed around a dead star. as the first extrasolar system ever dis-
In June 1992, readers learned PSR covered. A January 1996 story con-
1829-10’s planet wasn’t real. The pulse firmed a third planet and hinted at a
delays were due to Earth’s orbit fourth (later retracted).
around the Sun. However, the story Then, Astronomy’s March 1996
went on, astronomers had found a issue reported the discovery of
second pulsar, PSR 1257+12, showing 51 Pegasi b orbiting a Sun-like star.
similar behavior even with Earth’s This planet was slightly heavier than
motion accounted for. At least two Jupiter but closer to its star than
Mercury to the Sun. Our theories of 51 Pegasi b, depicted in this artist’s
rendition, was the first planet discovered around
planet formation said it couldn’t have a Sun-like star. It is considered a hot Jupiter — a
formed there, so how had it gotten massive gas giant orbiting close to its sun. WILLIAM
there? Perhaps it migrated inward? HARTMANN
By March 2000, all 33 known

even returning samples to Earth for extrasolar planets were massive gas technique: watching a planet transit its
study. Dawn orbited the biggest worlds
in the main belt, while Lucy is now on
giants on either close-in or highly star. This method might find smaller,
its way to study Jupiter’s Trojans. And elliptical orbits. Researchers wondered farther-out worlds that were difficult
we continue to develop and launch whether our solar system might be the to spot via radial velocity. Dedicated
spacecraft to study the center of it all: exception rather than the rule. (Today, to detecting transits, NASA’s Kepler
the Sun. we know that our solar system has launched in March 2009 and had
Every mission — and many more —
appears within the pages of Astronomy
characteristics of many others, but racked up five new planets by the time
as our solar system has become a in several respects remains unique. a November 2010 feature on the mis-
vastly richer, more dynamic, and even We still need more data!) sion appeared. When it retired in 2018,
more life-friendly place. — A.K. This state of affairs left astrono- Kepler had added thousands of known
mers itching to try a new detection planets. The Transiting Exoplanet
revealed three so-called super-Earths.
Though massive (15 to 20 Earths),
all were small enough to possibly be
rocky worlds. Such planets have since
become some of the most frequently
found, featuring in stories from
November 2008 and April 2017.
The era of
space telescopes
In November 1976, a preview appeared
for an orbiting observatory with a
2.4-meter mirror. Called the Space
Telescope, it would study the universe
from above Earth’s pesky atmosphere.
Survey Satellite (TESS), featured in July Ten years later, Astronomy’s March
2017 and August 2021 stories, replaced 1986 issue looked ahead at the Hubble
The James Webb Space Telescope
it as NASA’s main transit-seeking space successfully launches aboard an Ariane 5 Space Telescope’s (HST) upcoming
mission, albeit with different capabili- rocket on Dec. 25, 2021. NASA/BILL INGALLS August launch.
ties and goals than Kepler. The Kepler spacecraft revolutionized our
But the March issue had gone to
Transits finally allowed astronomers understanding of exoplanets, discovering press before the tragic Challenger
to search for the Holy Grail: a planet thousands of worlds by watching stars for the disaster in January grounded all
subtle dimming caused by a planet transiting
like ours. We’d find one “any day now,” the disk. NASA shuttles for nearly three years, post-
according to the astronomers quoted in poning Hubble’s launch. So it was
an August 2004 feature. But stories on the July 1990 issue that celebrated
the continuing search in April 2009, Other Earths remain elusive. To HST’s arrival in space. Then came a
October 2010, and April 2011 showed date, just 4 percent of the 5,000-plus November report explaining that due
that estimate had been optimistic. We known planets are Earth-mass or to a mirror-grinding error resulting in
finally spotted our first in 2014: Earth- smaller. Astronomers have uncovered, spherical aberration, the telescope was
sized Kepler-186 f, orbiting in at a dis- however, a type of planet absent from not performing as expected. A solution
tance where liquid water could exist. our solar system. A January 2005 story would take time; meanwhile, observa-
tions continued. In some cases, blurry
images could be processed to re-create
the sharp eyesight the scope should
have had, so Hubble photos quickly
began to grace Astronomy’s pages.
In late 1993, astronauts finally
placed corrective optics in the tele-
scope, in orbit. An April 1994 story
contains a triumphant quote from
space telescope project scientist Ed
Weiler: “Hubble is fixed beyond our
wildest expectations.” Now the Hubble
images were truly breathtaking.
Follow our Hubble-based headlines
and you’ll see how it transformed so
many aspects of astronomy, from our
solar system to the most distant galax-
ies we’d ever seen. Astronomy followed
HST through every servicing mission
JWST’s first released science image was of

the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723. This infrared
view took only 12.5 hours to achieve; Hubble’s
deepest fields have taken weeks to gather light
from such early galaxies. NASA, ESA, CSA, STSCI
30
and celebrated its anniversaries,
including an issue devoted to the
space telescope in April 2015.
You’ll also find mentions of HST’s
impending demise — which has,
fortunately, not yet occurred. But a
May 1998 feature explained how
the 8-meter Next Generation Space
Telescope might take over from
Hubble (which was then expected to
retire in 2005). Tentatively launching
in 2007, this behemoth would sit far
from Earth and explore the universe’s
earliest galaxies by peering into the
cosmos at infrared wavelengths.
Sound familiar? This would become
the 6.5-meter James Webb Space
Telescope (JWST). Admittedly, a few
numbers were a bit off.
By August 2005, JWST had a new
projected launch date of 2011. A fea-
ture in September 2010 showed the
observatory taking shape for its late
2014 or early 2015 launch. An August
2014 behind-the-scenes tour of the
scope’s ongoing construction (for a
launch now predicted for 2018) noted
that engineers were testing and retest-
ing every system. JWST could not be
serviced once in space and no one
wanted a Hubble-type mistake.
After more delays, including a Astronomy ran this iconic photo of Hubble drifting gently away from the space shuttle Discovery
after the telescope’s successful deployment in April 1990. NASA
worldwide pandemic, Astronomy cel-
ebrated the scope’s successful debut in
the February 2023 issue, naming it the
top astronomy story of 2022. This June,
JWST’s early discoveries netted a full-
length feature, including the deepest
ever infrared image of the universe.
JWST, like Hubble, promises to
revolutionize the field of astronomy.
Here’s a taste: In June 1988, a story
explored how the discovery of ever-
more-distant galaxies was shaking up
theories about how soon after the Big
Bang such objects could exist. Deeper
observations were pushing back the
time by which galaxies could have HST suffered from spherical aberration that initially severely limited the observatory’s vision. In
formed earlier than imagined. Now, 1993, astronauts installed the COSTAR package to correct the issue. These images show the galaxy
M100 before (left) and after (right) the fix. NASA
JWST has potentially discovered
mature galaxies a mere 500 million
to 700 million years after the Big uncovered, several new questions
Bang. Our picture of the early cosmos spring up that could never have been Senior Editor Alison Klesman hasn’t
may be about to change yet again. asked before. There’s still so much been alive for the magazine’s entire run,
The pages of Astronomy have left to discover, and we will be here to but she did study Pluto when it was still
shown that for every answer cover it all! a planet.
How amateur
astronomy
has evolved
Our hobby has gone through some major changes since
August 1973. BY MICHAEL E. BAKICH
ith this issue, much. Now — as I begin know by sending an email to so that passersby could enjoy
Astronomy cel- construction on a new obser- [email protected]. a free look at the 27-percent-
ebrates its 50th vatory — my interests tend illuminated Moon, as well
anniversary. I more toward innovative The 1970s as Saturn, only 5° to our
bought the first mounts and eyepieces rather On April 7, 1973, while the satellite’s lower right in the
issue of the magazine from than scopes and cameras. But first issue of Astronomy western sky. The event was
a newsstand in Columbus, doing something new makes was being laid out, the popular and now hundreds
Ohio. While the stories even- me think of all the innova- Astronomical Association of clubs around the world
tually drew my interest, I was tions that have led to this of Northern California con- participate.
more fascinated with the ads. point. With that mindset, I ducted the first Astronomy Both Celestron and
With the turn of each page, offer a look at some of the Day. This celebration of the Meade had been established
my question was, “Is there benchmarks of our hobby that sky was the brainchild of in the early part of the
anything new that can help have taken place during the the club’s president, Doug decade, and their products
me observe?” past 50 years. If I missed any- Berger. A number of scopes were rising in popularity.
Things haven’t changed thing significant, please let me were set up in busy locations During the year Astronomy
2 3
32 ASTRONOMY
debuted, Celestron offered a Astronomy’s March issue,
14-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain amateur Don Machholz
telescope. And while you made the first written men-
could purchase the optical tion of a “Messier marathon.”
tube assembly separately, the Springtime observing hasn’t
company included a tripod, been the same since.
a 26mm Plössl eyepiece, and Large-scope observing
a wedge, which turned the became common for ama-
mount into an equatorial one teur astronomers when
that could compensate for Coulter Optical introduced
Earth’s rotation. Amateur the Odyssey I, a 13.1-inch
astronomers could unpack Dobsonian-mounted reflec-
the boxes and observe on the tor. It sold for $395. Tele
same night! Vue Optics started a trend
In 1975, California compa-
nies Orion Telescopes &
Binoculars and DayStar
4 The first issue of Astronomy
Filters began operation.
Orion started as a retailer
1 included numerous ads, feature
stories, and columns that focused on
rather than a manufacturer, What most observers did, photographers imaging observing, like this one by R. Newton
and offered a wide range of however, was sit in a chair nebulae. The company offi- Mayall. ASTRONOMY
products. DayStar was the and cradle it. Many thou- cially discontinued the film
first company to produce sands were sold until it was in 2014 (but had stopped 2 Astronomy Day activities now
happen around the world. This
picture was taken in 2015 at the
Hydrogen-alpha filters for discontinued in 2013. making it at least a decade Digha Science Centre & National
amateur astronomers to In 1978, Kodak released earlier). Science Camp, New Digha, West
Bengal. BISWARUP GANGULY/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
observe the Sun in that wave- its Technical Pan Film, an As the decade closed,
length. Both companies are extremely fine-grain pan- one of the most popular star
still going strong today. chromatic (responsive to all parties began operation. In 3 Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain
telescopes brought high-quality
views of celestial objects to
Mobile astronomy saw a wavelengths) black-and- August 1979, the first Texas observers. GEOF/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
major innovation in 1976, white film. It wasn’t just the Star Party was held at Davis
when New Jersey-based
Edmund Scientific intro-
grain that amateurs liked,
though. Tech Pan had low
Mountains State Park. Three
years later, it moved to the
4 Hydrogen-alpha filters allowed
amateurs to view a lot more on
the Sun than just spots. MICHAEL P. CALIGIURI
duced the Astroscan, a fire- reciprocity failure, meaning Prude Ranch in Fort Davis,
engine red 4.1-inch f/4.2 its speed remained constant where it’s been held ever 5 Edmund Scientific’s AstroScan
was a highly portable Newtonian
reflector that could be set up on a
reflector. The scope, whose during long exposures. It since.
table or handheld. ANDREWBUCK/WIKIMEDIA
length was less than 18 inches also was sensitive to the COMMONS
(45.7 cm), had a rounded base Hydrogen-alpha wavelength The 1980s

that sat atop a fitted stand
you could place on a table.
(6562.8 Angstroms), which
made it a good choice for
The first year of this
decade was a big one. In
6 Each annual Texas Star Party
attracts amateur astronomers
from all over the world. ERICA RIX
6
5
in wide-field eyepieces in the “Astronomical Instruments began selling
when it introduced the Equipment Directory.” the first successful amateur
13mm Nagler, which It was also in the 1980s go-to telescope: the LX200.
sported an 82°-wide 9 that amateurs embraced the A pair of popular tele-
apparent field of view. And concept of astronomical scope companies got their
a 13-part PBS television tourism. The main reason start in the 1990s as well.
series called Cosmos: A was that lots of us were smit- Rick Singmaster founded
Personal Voyage debuted ten with the idea of seeing Starmaster Portable
Sept. 28. Halley’s Comet, which, at its Telescopes in Arcadia,
The following year, the era peak in March and April Kansas, and Vic Maris
of the apochromatic refractor 1986, was a much better started Stellarvue Telescopes
began when Astro-Physics sight from the Southern in Auburn, California.
produced the first oil-spaced Hemisphere. Supernova Amateur astronomers —
triplet objective lenses. The 1987a, which appeared in especially those who were
February of that year, also active in astronomy clubs
was a draw to southerly — also remember the ’90s for
locales. three amazing comets that
7 Late March is the time amateur
astronomers gear up for the
Messier marathon, a night when all The 1990s
caught the public’s attention
in major ways. The first
M objects are in view. This image
shows M95 (right), M96 (bottom), Imagers who were early was the impact of Comet
and M105 (brightest on left). DANIEL B. adopters of CCD cameras Shoemaker-Levy 9 (which
PHILLIPS
company labeled them “color rejoiced as the 1990s began had been discovered in
free.” On Sept. 16, 1982, and Adobe Systems released March 1993) with Jupiter.
8 Many comets shone brighter
than Halley’s Comet in 1986, but
none generated as much
now-Editor David J. Eicher Photoshop. The following Twenty-one fragments of
excitement. NASA/W. LILLER began working at Astronomy. year, amateurs who wanted the comet hit the giant planet
He’s been with the magazine to try their hand at making in July 1994. I recall doing as
9 This Celestron StarSense
Explorer reflector sits on a
Dobsonian mount. CELESTRON
— working pretty much
every job — 41 out of its 50
a telescope could buy a copy
of John Dobson’s book, How
many as 10 lectures a night
about the impact at the
years. and Why to Make a User- Astronomical Society of
10 Vic Maris started Stellarvue
Telescopes in 1997. STELLARVUE Two major amateur get-
togethers began mid-decade:
Friendly Sidewalk Telescope.
The so-called Dobsonian
Kansas City’s public observa-
tory in Lewisburg, Kansas.
11 Comet Hale-Bopp was the most
observed comet in history — by
far. PHILIPP SALZGEBER/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The Okie-Tex Star Party
in 1984 and the Winter
revolution had begun (and
continues today).
Good times.
Second was the close
Star Party in 1985. Also For those who chose to approach of Comet
12 Since the turn of the
millennium, astronomical
tourism has been on the rise.
in 1985, the first mention
of a CCD camera for sale
buy a scope rather than
build one, finding and track-
Hyakutake in March 1996.
At a distance of only 9.3 mil-
This group visited Easter Island for
the total eclipse on July 11, 2010. appeared in Astronomy. It ing objects got a lot simpler lion miles (15 million kilome-
MICHAEL E. BAKICH was five short lines of text when, in 1992, Meade ters), it sported a colorful
1980s 1990s
7
34 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2023 8 10
2000s 12
(green! blue! purple!) tail in telescope sales, astronomy PixInsight, Registax, SiriL, Greece, Bolivia, Easter Island,
that stretched more than club membership, and maga- and Star Tools. Australia, Chile, and more.
halfway across the sky. With zine subscriptions. The astronomical (yes, I Eclipses closer to home, of
its head near Polaris and its said it) rise in cellphone usage course, can be just as amaz-
tail stretching through Leo, The new century has triggered a major influx ing — and a lot less expensive
if you saw it from a dark site, The past two decades have of astronomy-related apps. to get to. The upcoming solar
you’d never forget it. contributed significant One set — dubbed planetar- eclipse on April 8, 2024, will
And then came Comet improvements to telescopes, ium software — offers provide another grand spec-
Hale-Bopp. Visible to naked mounts, cameras, and acces- detailed, full-sky celestial tacle for millions of amateur
eyes for a year and a half, it sories. But by far the greatest maps that will identify any- skywatchers across the U.S.
reached perihelion (its closest leaps have been in the area of thing you point the phone at. Make sure you see it so that
point to the Sun) April 1, image processing. Telescope companies it becomes part of your per-
1997. It holds the record for As of this writing, also are starting to embrace sonal astronomical history.
the most-observed comet in Photoshop is up to version cellphone tech. In 2022,
history — by far. But more 24 (and it can’t even open Celestron introduced its The future
than being great sights, these files created by its 1990 StarSense Explorer line. During my entire time with
three comets — especially incarnation). Other image- These telescopes incorporate Astronomy, I’ve made a single
Hale-Bopp — were respon- processing programs include simple (also inexpensive) correct prediction about the
sible for substantial increases DeepSkyStacker, GIMP, alt-azimuth mounts and future of our hobby: I said
the GPS feature in your that telescopes would eventu-
phone. Using the company’s ally have “one-button” setup.
free app, which guides you Turn it on, give it some time,
via arrows, you move the and observe. That said, my
telescope by hand until the record is better than most
bull’s-eye is on your chosen people I know.
celestial target. My point is that it’s hard
With regard to events, the to predict where inventive
21st century has seen a huge minds and advances in tech-
rise in what I like to call nology will take amateur
“eclipse tourism.” A growing astronomy. But it will be a
number of amateur astrono- grand journey, and we’ll all
mers are combining trips to benefit from the results.
view total solar eclipses with Here’s to another spectacular
fanciful destinations. Since 50 years.
2001, for example, my wife
and I have been part of Michael E. Bakich is the
eclipse tours to South Africa, oldest person ever to work for
French Polynesia (including Astronomy. His life spans the
Pitcairn Island), Italy, history of our beloved hobby.
11
SKY THIS MONTH
Visible to the naked eye
Visible with binoculars
Visible with a telescope
THE SOLAR SYSTEM’S CHANGING LANDSCAPE AS IT APPEARS IN EARTH’S SKY.

BY MARTIN RATCLIFFE AND ALISTER LING
Saturn (at right) and Jupiter (left)
dominate the morning sky this month.
The ringed planet offers especially
good viewing as it reaches
opposition. ALAN DYER
Mars near the Moon, Mercury

sits some 6° below our satellite.
It’s very close to the horizon, too
low to be easily seen.
Saturn reaches opposition
Aug. 27 and the ringed planet is
visible from dusk to dawn. On
Aug. 1, Saturn rises by 9:30 p.m.
local daylight time and is well
placed 25° above the southeastern
horizon by midnight. It’s located
in Aquarius the Water-bearer.
The planet reaches its opposition
magnitude of 0.4 by Aug. 16.
Saturn’s time to shine

The night of Aug. 2/3, Saturn
stands within 4° of a bright, nearly
Full Moon. The Moon returns to
Aquarius Aug. 30, when the two
stand 6° apart a few hours after
rising. Also near Saturn is the
The gas giants reign sunset. It’s nearly 5° lower than 27° east of the Sun. However, the bright 1st-magnitude star
as spectacular objects Mars, but the Red Planet is low angle of the ecliptic renders Fomalhaut, located 20° southeast
overnight; their moons also much fainter and less visible. the planet difficult to see; it is of the planet in Piscis Austrinus.
attract attention. Our evening One day earlier, on the 9th, more favorable for Southern Telescopic views reveal the
sky has a rapidly diminishing Mercury reaches greatest east- Hemisphere observers. On the sunlit northern side of the rings,
view of Mercury, with Mars ern elongation, when it stands 18th, while you’re searching for which are tilted earthward by 8°
difficult to spot. Morning car- in early August. Their angle
ries Uranus and Neptune, easily increases to 9° by the 31st. In just
A little lunar assistance
viewed in binoculars. And in a few years, the rings will appear
the second half of August, edge-on with only a small annual
Venus returns as a brilliant Arcturus fluctuation. The disk of Saturn
object in the predawn sky. spans 19" at opposition — pretty
Mars is challenging at mag- B O ÖT E S impressive when viewing it from
nitude 1.8 in the twilight sky, a distance of 820 million miles.
but you might get a glimpse on Saturn’s rings span 43", more
Aug. 18, when it stands 1¼° than double the disk’s width.
south of a waxing crescent V IRGO Experienced observers will
Moon in the west after sunset. look for the Seeliger effect, a
The pair sets just over an hour Spica L EO brightening of the rings at oppo-
after the Sun and Mars becomes sition when the shadows of ring
increasingly harder to spot as its fragments are hidden from view
altitude declines. Find the Moon Moon as the illuminating Sun stands
first, then search for Mars. Mars directly behind us. Observe the
5°
On Aug. 1, Mercury stands Mercury rings over a few nights around
6° high in the western sky 30 Aug. 18, 30 minutes after sunset the 27th to see whether you
minutes after sunset, shining at Looking west notice the effect. You might also
magnitude 0.1. The planet dims record Saturn photographically
You might spot Mars using the help of the slim crescent Moon Aug. 18.
to magnitude 0.4 by Aug. 10 and Mercury, though brighter than the Red Planet, sits extremely low to the to create a permanent record.
is now 5° high half an hour after horizon. ALL ILLUSTRATIONS: ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY Three separate rings are

RISING MOON I Young and old together
TYCHO AND CLAVIUS are two longtime favor-
Clavius and Tycho
ites of selenophiles. The duo stands out in the
Moon’s southern half in a magnificent play of
light and shadow when the Sun rises over them
OBSERVING on the 24th. Under a low Sun angle, Tycho’s nor- Tycho
HIGHLIGHT mally brilliant ray system is largely hidden from
view. (It’s best seen a few nights from now.) But
SATURN reaches opposition there are enough hints pointing back to it. A dif-
Aug. 27, rendering it visible
virtually all night this month. ferent giveaway to its identity are the signs of its
youth: a prominent deep bowl, sharp rim, and
well-defined central peak. The vast majority of
objects in the crater-crowded southern highlands
are anything but young. Clavius
Clavius is the huge feature closer to the limb.
Its debris-filled floor and softer rim are the telltale
visible in small telescopes. The consequence of age-old battering by smaller
outer A ring is dusky. Under impacts at the end of the solar system’s N
excellent conditions, its Encke period of heavy bombardment. Take a
Gap might be seen. A broader closer look inside the shallow bowl to E
dark gap, the Cassini Division, is see a neat curving chain of impact fea-
Without its rays illuminated, you’ll need
easily visible at the inner edge of tures. Over the course of an hour, track to use other indicators to identify Tycho.
the A ring. Interior to that is the the shadows’ retreat and spy the appear- CONSOLIDATED LUNAR ATLAS/UA/LPL. INSET: NASA/GSFC/ASU
brightest ring, the B ring. Darker ance of even smaller craters.

and more ethereal than the A In the following nights, Tycho’s rays become average-sized craters nearby that were obvious
ring is the innermost C ring, also increasingly obvious. Also note the darker ring on the 24th are now practically unidentifiable
around its raised rim. The heat from the blast that amongst dozens of divots.
called the Crepe Ring for its
formed it caused the surrounding surface to par- The region can be viewed under reverse light-
diaphanous nature.
tially melt and lose its lighter shade. While Clavius ing at 5 A.M. on the 7th and 8th, when the Moon is
Orbiting Saturn in the same
never gets lost because it is so big and distinct, high in the south.
plane as the ring system is a col-
lection of moons, many visible in
small telescopes. Most obvious is
Titan, which shines at magnitude
8.5. This moon’s atmosphere gives METEOR WATCH I Perseid prospects
it a slightly yellowish hue. It
Perseid meteors appear to radiate from
stands north of the planet Aug. 7 Perseid meteor shower the constellation Perseus — purely a
and 23, and south Aug. 15 and 31. perspective effect.
Fainter moons orbit closer to Radiant
the rings. At opposition, they’re hangs in Gemini. This year is one of
Algol
at their brightest for the year. A RI ES the more favorable times for North
PERSEUS American observers, with the pre-
Rhea is brightest around magni- Uranus Jupiter CETUS
tude 9.7, then Tethys around 10.3 Capella dicted peak starting around 3 A.M. EDT.
Pleiades Menkar The best place to look for Perseids
and Dione at 10.5. Magnitude AU RIG A TAURUS
is typically at 45° altitude some 40° to
11.9 Enceladus, which orbits
Aldebaran 70° away from the radiant. A favorite
every 33 hours, is challenging to LYN X
ORION constellation to watch during the
see due to Saturn’s brilliance. Moon
Castor Perseids is Cygnus, as many shower
This icy moon sports active gey- Rigel ERI DA NU S
Pollux members run its length.
sers near its southern pole. Betelgeuse
The shower is active from July 17
Thanks to their orbital tilt, the G EMIN I
through Aug. 24. Around these dates
moons now undergo transits and the rates are very low, rising to a peak
Procyon 10°
occultations with Saturn. Such in the second week of August. The
events are more difficult to Aug. 13, 1 hour before sunrise expected zenithal hourly rate on
observe than their jovian Looking east Aug. 13 is 100 meteors per hour. In
counterparts due to the larger the hour before dawn, Perseus is
contrast between Saturn and PERSEID METEORS THE PERSEID METEOR SHOWER, about 60° high, so expect a rate
its moons. For a challenge, Active dates: July 17–Aug. 24 one of the year’s best, peaks Aug. 13 closer to 50 or 60 per hour at peak for
see if you can spot Dione as Peak: Aug. 13 with expected rates exceeding one per North American observers (as the alti-
Moon at peak: Waning crescent
it’s occulted by Saturn on the minute in the hour before dawn, even tude of the radiant strongly affects
Maximum rate at peak:
— Continued on page 42 as a slender 8-percent-lit crescent Moon the observable rate).
100 meteors/hour
STAR DOME
HOW TO USE THIS MAP
This map portrays the sky as seen
near 35° north latitude. Located
inside the border are the cardinal
directions and their intermediate
points. To find stars, hold the map
overhead and orient it so one of
the labels matches the direction
you’re facing. The stars above
the map’s horizon now match
what’s in the sky.
The all-sky map shows

how the sky looks at:
11 P.M. August 1
10 P.M. August 15
9 P.M. August 31
Planets are shown
at midmonth
MAP SYMBOLS
Open cluster
Globular cluster
Diffuse nebula
Planetary nebula
Galaxy
STAR
MAGNITUDES
Sirius
0.0 3.0
1.0 4.0
2.0 5.0
STAR COLORS
A star’s color depends
on its surface temperature.
•• The hottest stars shine blue

Slightly cooler stars appear white
• Intermediate stars (like the Sun) glow yellow
• Lower-temperature stars appear orange
• The coolest stars glow red
• Fainter stars can’t excite our eyes’ color
receptors, so they appear white unless you
use optical aid to gather more light
BEGINNERS: WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT HOW TO READ A STAR CHART AT

www.Astronomy.com/starchart.
AUGUST 2023
SUN. MON. TUES. WED. THURS. FRI. SAT.
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31
Note: Moon phases in the calendar vary in size due to the distance
from Earth and are shown at 0h Universal Time.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
1 Full Moon occurs at 2:32 P.M. EDT
2 The Moon is at perigee (222,022 miles from Earth), 1:52 A.M. EDT
3 The Moon passes 2° south of Saturn, 6 A.M. EDT
4 The Moon passes 1.5° south of Neptune, 6 P.M. EDT
8 The Moon passes 3° north of Jupiter, 6 A.M. EDT
Last Quarter Moon occurs at 6:28 A.M. EDT
The Moon passes 3° north of Uranus, 9 P.M. EDT
9 Mercury is at greatest eastern elongation (27°), 10 P.M. EDT
13 Perseid meteor shower peaks
Venus is in inferior conjunction, 7 A.M. EDT
16 New Moon occurs at 5:38 A.M. EDT
The Moon is at apogee (252,671 miles from Earth), 7:54 A.M. EDT
18 The Moon passes 1.1° north of asteroid Pallas, 7 A.M. EDT
The Moon passes 7° north of Mercury, 7 A.M. EDT
The Moon passes 2° north of Mars, 7 P.M. EDT
23 Mercury is stationary, 1 A.M. EDT
24 First Quarter Moon occurs at 5:57 A.M. EDT
The Moon passes 1.1° north of Antares, 10 P.M. EDT
27 Asteroid Flora is at opposition, 4 A.M. EDT
Saturn is at opposition, 4 A.M. EDT
28 Uranus is stationary, 11 P.M. EDT
30 The Moon is at perigee (221,942 miles from Earth), 11:54 A.M. EDT
The Moon passes 2° south of Saturn, 2 P.M. EDT
Full Moon occurs at 9:36 P.M. EDT
PATHS OF THE PLANETS
PER AN D L AC
AUR
UM a LY N Comet 103P/Hartley C YG
G EM
L MI TR I
Path of the Moon LYR
C NC A RI
L EO Vesta PEG VU L
Uranus
Sun P SC
Jupiter Amphitrite EQU DE L
Ve n u s TAU AQL
Pat
CMi ho
f th SE R
Melpomene eS Celestial
un
SE X OR I Neptune (ec
lip t
equator
MON
Comet C/2020 ic) AQR
V2 (ZTF)
H YA CET S CT
ERI CAP
Eunomia
CMa Pluto
L EP
Asteroid Flora reaches PsA
PYX F OR opposition August 27
ANT Saturn appears at its best SG R
C OL for the year in late MIC
August
P UP C AE PHE C rA
V EL
HOR TEL
Dawn Midnight
Moon phases
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To locate the Moon in the sky, draw a line from the phase shown
for the day straight up to the curved blue line. 31 30 29 28 27
Uranus Venus
THE PLANETS
IN THEIR ORBITS S
Arrows show the inner Jupiter W E

planets’ monthly motions
Neptune
and dots depict the N
outer planets’ positions
at midmonth from high
above their orbits. Saturn 10"
Opposition is
August 27
Mercury
Pluto
Venus
Inferior conjunction
is August 13
Jupiter
PLANETS MERCURY VENUS

Date Aug. 15 Aug. 31
Magnitude 0.5 –4.6
Angular size 8.2" 50.6"
Ceres
Illumination 41% 10%
Mercury
Greatest eastern elongation Distance (AU) from Earth 0.820 0.330
is August 9 Distance (AU) from Sun 0.464 0.727
Right ascension (2000.0) 11h12.9m 8h50.2m
Declination (2000.0) 2°15' 9°55'

This map unfolds the entire night sky from sunset (at right) until sunrise (at left). Arrows
and colored dots show motions and locations of solar system objects during the month. AUGUST 2023
1
HER C Vn Callisto 2 Io
UM a LMi LY N
BOÖ
CrB 3
C OM
Europa
LEO 4
Sun Io
SE R 5 Callisto
rs
OPH re s Ma Mercury 6 Jupiter Europa
Ce
VIR SE X Ganymede
L IB
7 Ganymede
C RV CRT
HYA
JUPITER’S 8
MOONS
PYX Dots display 9
Comet C/2021 AN T
T4 (Lemmon) positions of
SC O Galilean satellites 10
CE N
VEL at 4 A .M. EDT on
ARA
the date shown. 11
Early evening South is at the
top to match the 12
view through a
telescope. 13
14
26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15
15
16
Jupiter
THE PLANETS IN THE SKY
These illustrations show the size, phase, 17
and orientation of each planet and the two
brightest dwarf planets at 0h UT for the dates 18
in the data table at bottom. South is at the top
to match the view through a telescope. 19
20
Saturn
21
Mars 22
Uranus Neptune
Ceres Pluto
23
24
MARS CERES JUPITER SATURN URANUS NEPTUNE PLUTO 25
Aug. 15 Aug. 15 Aug. 15 Aug. 15 Aug. 15 Aug. 15 Aug. 15

26
1.8 8.9 –2.5 0.4 5.8 7.7 15.1
3.8" 0.4" 41.6" 18.9" 3.6" 2.3" 0.1" 27
98% 97% 99% 100% 100% 100% 100%

28
2.434 3.083 4.736 8.786 19.628 29.074 33.898
1.638 2.651 4.963 9.776 19.635 29.907 34.829 29
11h30.7m 13h13.3m 2h49.9m 22h27.8m 3h21.4m 23h50.4m 20h03.8m 30

4°02' –0°50' 15°00' –11°32' 18°08' –2°25' –23°10'
31
WHEN TO
SKY THIS MONTH — Continued from page 37 VIEW THE
PLANETS
Moons on the move southeasternmost star in the
EVENING SKY
Circlet. Can you spot Neptune’s Mars (west)
S tiny, bluish 2"-wide disk through
Aug. 7, 4:50 A.M. EDT
Tethys’ shadow Rhea Mercury (west)
a telescope? It will depend on Saturn (east)
Tethys
seeing conditions. Neptune (east)
Saturn
As August opens, Neptune
Mimas MIDNIGHT
Enceladus forms an equilateral triangle
Jupiter (east)
W
Dione
with 20 and 24 Psc. From night Saturn (southeast)
to night, the planet tracks Uranus (east)
southwest toward 20 Psc, end- Neptune (southeast)
ing the month 19' from the star.
MORNING SKY
Get familiar with this star —
Titan 30" Venus (east)
during next month’s opposition, Jupiter (southeast)
Aug. 7 is a busy morning for Saturn’s moons. Shortly after Dione and Neptune gets much closer!
Enceladus appear from behind the disk, Tethys and its shadow begin a transit. Saturn (southwest)
Note that Mimas, at magnitude 13, may not appear in some scopes. Jupiter rises shortly after Uranus (southeast)
midnight on Aug. 1 and is best Neptune (southwest)
morning of Aug. 7, when it evening sky not far from the placed for observing in the
skims the northern limb of the Circlet of Pisces. At magnitude hours before dawn, when it
planet between approximately 7.7, the planet is easy to confuse stands more than 40° above the
3:15 a.m. and 4:45 a.m. EDT. with the background stars, but eastern horizon. It is in Aries Swing binoculars toward the
Exceedingly difficult is the its location just northwest of the Ram and shines vividly at gas giant and hold very steady
reappearance of 12th-magnitude a line of three stars — 6th- magnitude –2.4 in early August. — you’ll likely spot a few bright
Enceladus from behind Saturn magnitude 20 and 24 Piscium, On the morning of Aug. 8, moons. Step up to a telescope to
the same morning at 4:41 a.m. and 5th-magnitude 27 Psc — Jupiter is less than 2.5° from a truly reveal the jovian system
EDT, reappearing off the aids with identification. You can Last Quarter Moon. Note the of four Galilean moons and a
planet’s northeastern limb. find this trio of stars 5.6° south- Pleiades (M45) in Taurus, some planet replete with light and
Meanwhile, a third event is east of Lambda (λ) Psc, the 16° to Jupiter’s northeast. dark cloud bands. Note the
occurring south of the rings.
Tethys and its shadow begin a
transit, starting with the shadow COMET SEARCH I Location, location, timing
just before 4:40 a.m. EDT. The
moon follows six minutes later. FINALLY! An extended period
Many similar events will occur Comet 103P/Hartley 2
of decent comets begins, and we
quite regularly now, given these even have choices. Don’t dally CASSIOPEIA
moons’ short orbital periods. if you want to catch C/2021 T4 N k NGC 147 s
Iapetus lies far from Saturn, (Lemmon). Tracking northward g 51 NGC 185
PERSEUS j q /
orbiting every 79 days. It reaches into Libra, this 8th-magnitude
eastern elongation Aug. 1, fuzzball from the Oort Cloud is M34 r t
Algol
standing 9' east of the planet. It’s fading after its closest approach 30 a A N DROME DA NGC 205
p Path of i M31
magnitude 11.9, with its darker to the Sun July 31. Compare it l M32
25 Comet Hartley 2 e
hemisphere facing Earth. with globular clusters such as NGC 752 + l
the concentrated NGC 6144 near E 20 m
Iapetus brightens through the
Antares, then diffuse NGC 5897. 15
month; track it as it reaches b ` NGC 404 /
Because Lemmon is already set- a `
inferior conjunction Aug. 20 at NGC 925 10
midnight EDT, just 25" north- ting in the southwest as it gets
TRIANG U LUM b 5 _
west of Saturn and shining near dark, be ready at the start of your Aug. 1
_ M33 ¡
observing session.
11th magnitude. The following
Better suited for late arrivals
night, it’s already skipped nearly 4°
at the dark site is short-period
a full arcminute away, brighten-
(6.5 years) 103P/Hartley 2. Comet Hartley 2 flies past several deep-sky objects in April. The comet
ing as it goes. Iapetus reaches
Glowing a modest magnitude 10, mirrors the famous Ghost of Mirach midmonth.
western elongation next month Hartley slides from head to toe in
at magnitude 10.2. Andromeda as it rises higher with each hour of the night. By midmonth, the comet is a second Ghost
Neptune rises just after of Mirach, passing by Beta (β) Andromedae not far from the galaxy NGC 404. This object can catch imag-
10 p.m. local daylight time on ers unawares, posing as an internal lens reflection of the bright star. The green glow of diatomic carbon
Aug. 1 and before 8:30 p.m. on around the comet’s coma should make for a nice contrast with the gray smudge of the galaxy.
Aug. 31. This brings it into the Despite the nearly Full Moon, catch Hartley 2 on the 31st when it is less than a degree from M34, a
nice star cluster in Perseus.
LOCATING ASTEROIDS I
A familiar place
IF YOU DON’T KNOW where M22 is, find out and return year
after year. Located about 2.5° northeast of the tip of Sagittarius’
Southerly apparition Teapot (in the south for most readers), this massive globular clus-
ter is an easy find in binoculars from a rural sky. M22 is our anchor
Neptune Altair point for an all-month stakeout of main-belt asteroid 15 Eunomia.
Sadalmelik Thanks to the many dark dust lanes crossing the front of our
AQUA R IUS Milky Way’s core, magnitude 9 Eunomia won’t be lost among
throngs of more distant stars. On the other hand, its apparent
AQU I L A motion is on the slow side, so we’ll want to make a sketch of a
Saturn
star field and come back a night or two later to see which dot
Deneb Algedi has moved. The 1st to the 2nd and especially the 6th through the
8th are the best opportunities. During the last third of August,
10°
CAPRIC ORNUS Eunomia is almost the brightest dot in its region.
Fomalhaut PISCIS
AUSTRINU S Discovered in 1851 by Annibale de Gasparis, the potato-
shaped boulder spans a respectable 220 miles end to end and
SAGI T TA RI US 130 miles across the middle, putting it among the top 10 largest
bodies in the main belt. It appears to be the parent of an associ-
ated asteroid family formed by a collision long ago. Named for
Moon the mythological Greek personification of law and order, Eunomia
was among the evidence used to demote asteroids to their own
Aug. 27, 1 A.M. group from their original status as planets.
Looking south
Globulars galore
Saturn sits high in the south in the hours around local midnight at opposition.
You’ll need binoculars to locate Neptune, nearby in Pisces. j1 N
j2
evident pair of belts straddling Jupiter’s north pole Aug. 13.
30
the equator. More subtle belts The shallow angle of the limb 2
Path of
i Eunomia 25
reside at northerly and southerly slowly hides the moon around i1
NGC 20
latitudes. Jupiter’s fast rotation 5:33 a.m. EDT — you’ll notice 6717 15
— just under 10 hours — carries Ganymede dimming a few 10
E 5 NGC 6642
cloud features, including the minutes before this. The large Aug. 1 M22
SAG I T TA RIU S
Great Red Spot, across the disk. moon may appear to blend with
Their movement is noticeable to the limb of Jupiter quite a bit M28
h
an attentive observer within 10 earlier, depending on your see- NGC 6638
to 15 minutes. ing conditions. Ganymede
m
The Galilean moons orbit reappears by 5:51 a.m. CDT, but q
roughly every two to 17 days. be on the lookout earlier, again 1°
Their changing relative posi- because it may reappear sooner. Eunomia traces a slow, curving path past several globular clusters —
tions are fascinating to watch, Ganymede transits the south including M22 — near the galactic center this month.
as are transits and occultations. polar regions for an hour the
The morning of Aug. 3, Io’s morning of Aug. 31, from
shadow falls on the jovian cloud 3:26 a.m. to 4:27 a.m. EDT. when it is 60° high in the south- springs into the morning sky as
tops at 4:45 a.m. EDT, followed Note that the 5th-magnitude east and roughly level with the a bright object nearly 4° high
by the moon itself at 5:07 a.m. star Sigma (σ) Arietis lies close Pleiades. Few other stars are 30 minutes before sunrise on
CDT (right around sunrise on to Jupiter the last two weeks of nearby — the brightest are Aug. 21. By the end of August,
the East Coast). Europa follows the month, coming within an 4th-magnitude Delta (δ) and Venus is 26.5° west of the Sun
suit midmonth. Its shadow arcminute or two of the planet 5th-magnitude Zeta (ζ) Arietis, and almost 10° high among the
begins a transit at 3:23 a.m. EDT Aug. 21 and 22. Don’t confuse which stand 1.5° apart to dim stars of Cancer about an
on Aug. 14, followed by the the star with the moons — Uranus’ northwest. East of hour before sunrise. A telescope
moon at 5:12 a.m. CDT. Notice they’re of similar brilliance. them is 63 Ari, a bit brighter will show a beautiful 11-percent-
the longer gap between the tran- Uranus stands between 7.5° than Uranus, which lies 2.6° lit crescent spanning 50".
sits of shadow and moon for and 9° northeast of Jupiter dur- south of this star. Uranus wan-
Europa compared with Io — ing August. It also lies in Aries ders slowly east and slows to Martin Ratcliffe is a
the latter has a smaller orbit. and is a binocular object at a stop late on Aug. 28, then planetarium professional with
Ganymede plays hide- magnitude 5.8. Uranus is best begins its retrograde motion. Evans & Sutherland and enjoys
and-seek for 77 minutes near viewed in the hour before dawn, A telescope will show a 4"-wide observing from Salt Lake City.
disk with a greenish hue. Alister Ling, who lives in
GET DAILY UPDATES ON YOUR NIGHT SKY AT Venus passes inferior con- Edmonton, Alberta, is a longtime
www.Astronomy.com/skythisweek. junction Aug. 13 and quickly watcher of the skies.
OF S TRONO
A M Y l of ast ro n o m e r s a nd
in 2073? A pa ne
nomy look l i ke R K Z A S T R OW
What will astro ists give their predictions. EDITE
D B Y M A
pla net a r y scient

ture of
ABOVE: The fu ht, with plans in
is br ig
astronomy t
fo r ne w facilities no
the works on th e
but also
just on Ear th,
ep space. VLADIM
IR
Moon an d in de
VUST YANSKY
T: Telescopes,
LEFT TO RIGH
ovae, advanced
nearby supern ds, and
ho
propulsion met e observatories
l- w av
gravitationa r
ers’ wishlists fo
are on astronom ur y.
nt
the next half-ce
JOHN MATHER
Blueprints for the future
IT’S EASIER TO THINK OF what we can build than
what we might discover, because with building we can see
the steps. And we have instruction books: the reports from
committees, like the decadal surveys published by the U.S.
National Academies of Sciences.
We’ve already got our hands full with wishes for observa-
tories. We’ve wished for the Habitable Worlds Observatory, a
Hubble Space Telescope on steroids that will see Earth-like
exoplanets around Sun-like stars. We’ve wished for a far-
infrared observatory, the Origins
Space Telescope, to detect molecules
in cold, dusty objects and see stars
The Habitable Worlds
and planets forming. We’ve wished Observatory (HWO) would
for the Lynx X-ray observatory, to be designed to study all
understand extreme temperatures kinds of astrophysical
objects, but with a
around black holes and explosions particular emphasis on
of all sorts. At the rate of one per habitable exoplanets. The
design concept is in
20 years, we won’t have all of these progress, but it could
telescopes until 2083, and then it blend elements of two
previous proposals: the
will take more decades to use them Large UV/Optical/IR
and make sense of the data. Our Surveyor (at left) and the
decadal surveys are really wish Habitable Exoplanet
Observatory (HabEx, at
books for a century. right). However, HWO will
What might we dis- likely not incorporate
HabEx’s starshade, a
cover? I think life is separate craft meant to
block out stars so the
telescope could better see
the faint light of
exoplanets. Perhaps a
subsequent mission will
pioneer that technique
by 2073. FROM LEFT: JOBY HARRIS,
JPL; NASA’S GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT
CENTER CONCEPTUAL IMAGE LAB
a thermodynamic imperative,
The James Webb Space that it will begin quickly wher-
Telescope (JWST) took over 25
years from proposal to first lightever conditions are suitable. But
— making 2073 just two JWST- we don’t know what governs the
gestation periods away. NASA/
ADRIANA MANRIQUE GUTIERREZ
timescale for the growth of com-
plexity into civilizations, and we
don’t know which conditions are
suitable. We do know that planetary systems like ours —
four rocky planets, an asteroid gap, and four cold gas giants
— are rare. Quite possibly our own situation with a very
large moon to stabilize our planet’s tilt is a necessary condi-
tion for our own existence. Finding another place like home
may be the most difficult problem in astronomy, requiring
much larger telescopes in space than we can yet design.
There’s no law of nature against them; we can build
them when the time comes. But not this year.
I am guessing that we will find something After the Habitable Worlds Observatory, the Astro2020
strange about the early universe. The first objects decadal survey’s wishlist includes a far-infrared
that grew after the Big Bang might surprise us, and telescope based on the Origins Space Telescope
concept (top) and an X-ray observatory based on
we already know from JWST that the first galaxies we the Lynx proposal (left). The Habitable Worlds
can see are bigger, brighter, hotter, and quicker than Observatory, the far-IR scope based on the Origins
Space Telescope, and the X-ray telescope based
we expected. We still can’t tell how the supermassive on Lynx will form a trio of observatories that span
black holes in the centers of galaxies were formed, or the electromagnetic spectrum. They have been
dubbed the New Great Observatories — the heirs
how they grew so large so fast. to the triumvirate of the Hubble, Spitzer, and
Will we understand dark matter and dark energy? Chandra space telescopes. FROM TOP: ORIGINS SPACE
They seem unobservable in laboratory experiments, and TELESCOPE STDT/CALTECH; LYNX X-RAY OBSERVATORY/ANTONIO HOLGUIN
all we know so far from astronomy is their gravitational

effect on ordinary matter. Neither were predicted by
theory based on the other three forces of nature. obvious!” But more likely, the solutions will come from some
A breakthrough could occur at any time, and when it shocking extension of curved space-time geometry into
occurs, we may say, “Why didn’t I think of that? It’s so higher dimensions and quantum mechanics that would
astonish even Einstein. We are already confronted with the
mysteries of quantum entanglement — that measuring a
particle in one place can instantly affect a particle across the
universe. Perhaps the interpretation of measurement and
wave functions — the equations that describe the infinitude
of quantum possibilities — will finally be firmly established.
In addition to new telescopes, we have new computing
tools. We can already make movies of the history of the uni-
verse based on hypothetical initial conditions and the laws
of physics, just as we can predict the weather with hydrody-
namic codes. These simulations are limited: As objects
evolve and become smaller and hotter, the computation to
describe them becomes too difficult to include in the origi-
nal simulations. But AI may allow us to overcome this by
reducing the computation necessary to get good results.
Jumping ahead, I see no law of nature preventing artifi-
cial general intelligence, a form of AI that truly understands
the words it uses to talk with us. Given the billions of dollars
being spent every year, and the immense motivations lead-
ing to those budgets, I think it’s only a matter of time. We
don’t have to understand how it works to use it. We don’t
understand the human mind, either. Be ready to be amazed.
John Mather is senior project scientist for the James Webb

Space Telescope. He shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics for
discovering the nature of the cosmic microwave background.
YVETTE CENDES Earth (as long
as we get a
A 50-year grand adventure handle on reg-
ulations for
satellite mega-
ONE THING THAT ionosphere. There’s probably constellations
PARTICULARLY excites some exciting new science and don’t run
me when thinking so far down there we don’t know out of resources
ahead is that it’s reasonable about! However, I anticipate due to catastrophic
to imagine we’ll have a siz- this observatory will be climate change). This
able radio telescope on the automated and I will never is because of the revolu-
farside of the Moon. This is see it with my own eyes — tion that will come in the
important to shield the tele- with remote observing now next decade from the con-
SN 1604 (also known as
scope from all the human- routine, it seems hard to struction and commissioning Kepler’s supernova) was the
generated radio frequency imagine a farside lunar radio of the Square Kilometer last supernova in our galaxy
interference (RFI) on Earth. telescope wouldn’t be, too. Array (SKA) in Australia and visible to the naked eye. It
occurred over 400 years ago,
It will also open up the low- I think we will still have South Africa and the Next before telescopes had been
est frequencies from space ample amounts of radio Generation Very Large Array invented. We’re due for
another one, but will its light
that are blocked by Earth’s astronomy occurring on (ngVLA) in North America. arrive before 2073? NASA
That places 2073 roughly

as far into the future from
the construction of the SKA
and ngVLA as we are now
from the construction in the
1970s of the original Very
Large Array, which is still
my primary science instru-
ment today. While there is
great optimism about the
cost of space launches going
down over coming decades,
for complicated arrays that
literally span continents, it
will still be cheaper to main-
tain and upgrade these
workhorses on Earth than
put a new one into space.
I am also particularly
excited about how routine
gravitational-wave (GW)
astronomy and follow-up
will be in 50 years. Right
now, a sizable fraction of the
planet’s astronomers and
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is a proposed

fleet of spacecraft that would detect gravitational waves as
they pass through and distort the space-time in between them.
It would be more sensitive to lower-frequency gravitational
waves than its ground-based counterparts. This would allow
it to detect heavier objects with much wider orbits than those
currently observed. UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA/SIMON BARKE (CC BY 4.0)

telescopes scramble after a
promising signal, but by
2073, we’ll probably have
hundreds of such alerts
every week from many
GW-emitting objects we
have no chance of detecting
now. Thanks to the next-
generation Cosmic Explorer
observatory, NASA’s space-
borne Laser Interferometer
The Square Kilometer Array was in planning stages for 30 years before breaking ground in 2022. Its first stage
Space Antenna (LISA), and will comprise 197 mid-frequency dishes in South Africa’s Karoo region (left) and over 131,000 low-frequency
their successors, it will be a antennas in the Australian outback (right). The inner sections of this composite are real images of current
infrastructure; the outer sections incorporate artist’s illustrations of the completed array. SKA ORGANISATION
completely different kind of
astronomy, and a complete
game changer!
On the science side, I am
fairly confident we will have
proof of life elsewhere in the
universe — maybe not via
signs of extraterrestrial intel-
ligence, but instead via the
confirmation of biosigna-
tures on exoplanets. Life is a
chemical process, after all,
so it seems the height of
hubris to assume it only hap-
pened on Earth. In the next
50 years, our technology
should be able to detect it.
Also, I very much wish
that by 2073 we will mark
the first supernova observed
in our own galaxy in nearly
400 years, potentially bright
The power of multiwavelength observations
enough to see with our own is evident in this image of the center of the
eyes. A galaxy the size of Milky Way taken by the original Great
the Milky Way should have Observatories. X-rays observed by Chandra
are depicted in blue and violet, and emanate
a supernova every 50 to 100 from hot gas; the blob at left is gas heated by
years, and we are overdue. a binary system that contains either a
neutron star or a black hole. Near-infrared
There’s no way of knowing observations from Hubble are shown in
when we will see the next yellow; infrared data from Spitzer are
one, but it will either be a displayed in red. Arcs of gas and dust glow
bright in infrared, including a vortex (inset),
highlight of my career — or that surrounds the supermassive black hole energy or fast exist yet — a grand adven-
its biggest disappointment, at the galaxy’s heart, Sagittarius A*. NASA, ESA, radio bursts ture in itself. I can’t wait to
SSC, CXC, AND STSCI
if we wait another 50 years (FRBs) were, or see how it will unfold!
without one. that exoplanets
Finally, one favorite thing are as common as Yvette Cendes is a radio
to think about is that if we years after the next pass of stars. Today, these are at the astronomer at the Center
know anything about his- Halley’s Comet, which, forefront of active research. for Astrophysics | Harvard
tory, it’s that in 50 years frankly, is the furthest ahead While none of us know what & Smithsonian. She studies
there will be exciting and I tend to think in my astro- the future holds in science, variable and transient sources,
new mysteries we can’t even nomical lifetime.) When the only thing we can bet on with a particular interest
begin to contemplate today. Astronomy was founded, no is that it will take us in excit- in supernovae and tidal
(Heck, we’re talking eight one had a clue what dark ing directions we don’t know disruption events.
ADAM RIESS
Unpacking inflation S. ALAN STERN
The whole solar
system within reach
IN THE NEXT the solar system, with
50 YEARS, I think Antarctic-like, semiper-
that planetary sci- manent bases scattered
ence will advance in around the globes of at
Dark energy
so many fundamental least Luna and Mars. I
ways that it may be also expect we may by
almost unimaginably then have much larger
Present more advanced than and more powerful
day it is today. In fact, my launch vehicles, even
prediction is that the fusion-based or high-
AS I THINK advances from here to power electric propul-
YOGI BERRA said, the 2070s will dwarf sion, making trip times
predictions are difficult to those from the 1970s to an order of magnitude
make, especially about the the 2020s, which is say- shorter than today. Just
future. [Ed. note: The saying, ing a lot. think: Mars in a few
often credited as a Danish prov- By the ’70s, I expect weeks, Pluto and the
erb, was also reportedly used by we’ll have human Kuiper Belt in a year!
Inflation
Big the physicist Niels Bohr.] exploration taking place I expect that by the
bang
As a cosmologist, 50 years on multiple worlds in 2070s, we’ll also see
from now, I am looking forward
Cosmic inflation holds
to Big Answers to the Big
that the early universe Questions about the universe.
underwent an What is dark energy? What is
exponential growth
spurt that smoothed dark matter? Why is the uni-
out nearly all its verse so flat? Did inflation hap-
imperfections. It’s the
leading theory to explain pen? And more recent questions, CHANDA PRESCOD-WEINSTEIN
why the universe is
so smooth — but not
like why the universe is expand-
ing faster and appears smoother
Resolving tensions
the only one. Also
unexplained is the than our best model predicts.
universe’s current Inflation is a powerful theory, AS OF 2023, astronomers have been arguing about how
period of accelerating
expansion due to the and it is the leading hypothesis fast space-time is expanding for nearly a century. So I’m
mysterious force called to explain certain features of the going to be real and say that I expect us to be arguing
dark energy. ASTRONOMY:
ROEN KELLY
universe, like flatness, that are about this for another 50 years.
hard to explain otherwise. Today, astronomers are divided on the pace of the uni-
However, inflation has not yet verse’s expansion, known as the Hubble constant. One
been experimentally verified to a high degree of cer- camp finds that in the modern universe, two galaxies
tainty. And because the theory is rather general with separated by 1 million parsecs (1 Mpc, or 3.26 million
regard to observables, we have not been able to rule out light-years) appear to recede from each other by roughly
alternative scenarios. These include the ekpyrotic uni- 73 kilometers per second. The other group, based on
verse, in which the Big Bang we observe is just one Big measurements of the early universe and our cosmological
Bounce in a cycle of Big Bounces. Future data available models, finds this rate to be around 68 km/s/Mpc. Yet a
in 2073 are likely to be far more definitive. third type of measurement has landed at 69 km/s/Mpc.
Fifty years is a fair fraction of the time or longer than The Hubble tension, as this debate is now known, is
we have had these questions, so I expect we will have at big drama with a high reward for the scientists involved.
least one or two answers by 2073. (Please tell me the Whoever can make a truly compelling case for their
answers loudly because I will be 103 years old then.) number — one that stands the test of time — will be
However, I would also predict we will have a few new remembered for measuring the length of the largest ruler
questions by then to ponder. in the cosmos. And by 2073, perhaps we will also have a
better sense of the physics that underpins cosmic accel-
Adam Riess is a cosmologist at Johns Hopkins University. eration — the increasing speed of space-time’s expansion.
He shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery But there are also interesting questions of how the next
that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.
100-meter-class tele-
Rockets powered by
scopes on Earth, with nuclear fusion, like this
many large time- artist’s concept, could cut
domain telescopes the travel time to Mars
from nine months to a
(studying objects as couple of weeks. HELICITY SPACE
they evolve over time
and finding new ones),
enormous radio and course, the return of
submillimeter arrays, samples to Earth (or
and even airborne perhaps to off-Earth
stratospheric observa- labs to protect our
tories that will make a planet from possible
lot of today’s Antarctic harmful contamina-
astronomy obsolete. tion) from a wide vari-
With those capabilities, ety of locales will be
we’ll catalog every last routine.
object of any conse- But most of all, I
quence out to the inner expect that the art of interpretation, coding as well, there’s even a as an alert and produc-
Oort Cloud and be able doing planetary science and theory, and even chance I might live to tive 115-year-old! At
to image everything will be fundamentally writing papers — may test all these predictions least, I hope so.
out to the Kuiper Belt changed by artificial be nothing like what
at geologically interest- intelligence. By then, planetary scientists do S. Alan Stern is a planetary scientist and member of
ing resolutions that it will be so powerful today. the U.S. National Science Board. He has led 14 NASA
only spacecraft can that the work of science And since biology is flight missions and science instruments, including New
provide today. And of — data analysis and now advancing rapidly Horizons to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.
I hope that by 2073, those of us who develop and work with

space telescopes will have found an alternative route to con-
structing them that does not involve working with large defense
contractors whose weapons not only cost money that would be
better spent on a sound social safety net, but also poison the
environment. We will also need to think carefully about the
impact that space launches have on local ecosystems, as well as
peoples displaced by them, such as the Afro-Brazilian quilombola
communities removed from their land for the construction of the
Alcântara Launch Center.
By 2073, astronomers should also have developed a clear
ethical framework for constructing ground-based facilities and
The Alcântara Launch Center was constructed in the 1980s after authorities
displaced hundreds of families of quilombolas — descendants of enslaved
seeking permission for using the land where we want to build.
Africans who escaped plantations and formed their own communities. The struggle over the construction of the Thirty Meter
Thousands more quilombolas may be evicted in a planned expansion of the Telescope on Maunakea shows that traditional approaches to
facility driven in part by a deal between Brazil and the U.S. that allows for
commercial launches using U.S. technology. TV BRASIL building facilities on Indigenous lands do not engender good
relations between astronomers and the communities that we
work in. We can do better.
generations of astronomers will resolve questions like the And we don’t have much time. Fifty years is not that far out
Hubble tension. To survive the ongoing climate catastrophe, into the future, and the time for us to start planning is now.
communities around the world will have to dramatically revise
how we go about everyday life. From the mundane questions of Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is an assistant professor of physics
daily water and transit use to the more extraordinary question and core faculty member in women’s and gender studies at the
of how we will understand the origins of the universe, no University of New Hampshire. She is the award-winning author of
aspects of human activity are unaffected by the need to respond The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime,
to climate change. That includes astronomy. and Dreams Deferred (Bold Type Books, 2021).
Taking pictures of celestial
objects has come a long way
since this magazine started.
BY MICHAEL E. BAKICH
YEARS OF
IN THE PREMIER ISSUE of Astronomy, dated
August 1973, a page labeled “Wanted: Contributors to
Astronomy” put this call out to imagers: “Photographs,
preferably in color whenever possible, but black and white
are acceptable. For color, transparencies are preferred
over prints, made with as large a film print as possible.
We would like to receive 4x5 transparencies, but accept
35mm. Black and white prints should be I was giving at the time. They were cre-
on glossy paper, 5x7 inches or larger. ated from glass plates attached to the
Photos are used with accompanying 200-inch Hale Reflector. Many of them
articles, singly in special ‘Star Gallery’ required multihour exposures over sev-
photo spreads and to illustrate articles eral nights. And all resulted in black-
by other authors.” and-white images.
Let’s be honest. Nobody in the ’70s
was taking great shots of celestial Capture it on film
objects. Even the professional observato- The state of amateur astroimaging
ries were producing images that today in early 1975 was still bad enough
would be considered substandard. that, in a story titled “Piggyback
I used to purchase slides of deep-sky Astrophotography” by Leo C. Henzl Jr.,
objects from Palomar Observatory in only two images accompanied the text
California to augment the simple talks — and both were of equipment! Indeed,
backyard photographers were trying lots
of new techniques to get the most out
of their equipment and photographic
emulsions.
As late as the November 1993 issue,
Lumicon was still selling gas hypersen-
sitization kits to improve film astropho-
tography. Such a technique stabilized
photographic emulsions against a prob-
lem called “reciprocity failure,” where
the sensitivity of the film would fall
off dramatically as the exposure time
increased.
The next issue saw the first true ad
for a CCD camera, produced by Sirius
Instruments of Villa Park, Illinois. The
first story about CCD imaging appeared
in March 1994. Titled “Virtual Sky,”
by then-Editor Robert Burnham, the
Advances in cameras and processing techniques

allowed astroimagers opportunities for close-up
shots, and a favorite target was the Horsehead
Nebula (B33). The image to the right was taken in
1999; the one to the left in 2008. FROM RIGHT: GEORGE
GREANEY; ADAM BLOCK/MOUNT LEMMON SKYCENTER/UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
author wondered in the sto- wrote “Kodak’s Hot New
ry’s subtitle, “If it comes at Astrophoto Film.” In it he
you out of a computer screen described his testing of Kodak
instead of an eyepiece, is it Pro Gold 400 (also known as
still astronomy?” PPF) film. Accompanying his
The next story about the story were some impressive
benefits of CCD cameras was deep-sky shots — well,
“Catching Comets with a impressive for the time.
CCD,” by Glenn Gombert and Then, for March 1997,
John Chumack. It appeared in Chris Schur wrote “Choosing
the February 1995 issue. And the Right Film for Hale-
— oh, my! — the images that Bopp,” which debuted a
accompanied the story were few images of the previous
so miserable compared with bright comet, C/1996 B2
what’s being produced today (Hyakutake). It seemed the
that they’re laughable. (See top imagers weren’t quite
the images in the middle of ready to make the jump to
page 56, and tell me you don’t digital imaging.
agree.)
For the October 1996 issue, The digital age 1
astrophotographer Tony Hallas Astronomy announced two
2
1 The first amateur
photograph to appear
in issue No. 1 of Astronomy
(August 1973) was this
“ If it comes image of a solar eclipse.
JAY M. PASACHOFF
at you
out of a 2 Another eclipse image
that appeared in the
magazine’s premier issue,
this one of the diamond
computer ring from the 1970 solar
eclipse, shows how far
astroimagers have come
screen in half a century. HARVARD-
SMITHSONIAN-NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
instead of PHOTOGRAPH
an eyepiece, 3 Perseus was the first

constellation to appear
in Astronomy. The arrow in
is it still the photograph shows the
position of the variable star
astronomy? ” Algol (Beta [β] Persei).

R. NEWTON MAYALL
4 This amateur shot of

the Moon was the
first of our natural satellite
3 to be featured in the
magazine. It appeared in
September 1973, in the
story “Film: A Grainy
Dilemma for Sky Shooters,”
which summed up the
EYEPIECE: BOGDAN STEBLYANKO/DREAMSTIME.COM

state of imaging at the
time. JOHN SANFORD
5 The first amateur

photograph of a planet
appeared in Astronomy’s
second issue, September
1973. It supposedly
approximated what an
observer would see
through an 8-inch
telescope. STEVEN REED
4 5
6 This image of Saturn,
taken through an
8-inch telescope, was
labeled “outstanding” in
the story “High Resolution
Astrophotography:
Improving Your Odds,”
which appeared in the
April 1975 issue. JAMES ROUSE
7 Here’s the original

caption for this
image: “BEFORE AND
AFTER: Hidden Image,
a program for image
processing, effectively
removes atmospheric
blurring from a raw image 6
of Comet P/Schwassman-
Wachmann 2 (left) and
transforms it into a sharper
picture (right).” Wow.
GLENN GOMBERT/JOHN CHUMACK
8 This photograph of
Comet West (C/1975
V1) shows both its gas
and dust tails well, an
improvement over previous
images. It appeared in
“Catch a Comet on Film,” a
story by Rick Dilsizian in
the January 1996 issue. The
imager took a 2½-minute
exposure on Fuji F100 film
in a 5½-inch Schmidt
camera. JAMES L. MATTESON
9 As late as the February

2000 issue, these
planetary shots were
considered high quality by
amateur celestial imagers.
THIERRY LEGAULT
7
10 The first image I

ever selected for
Reader Gallery was this
magnificent multiple
exposure showing the
analemma above the
Tholos of Delphi, Greece.
It appeared in the
August 2003 issue and
demonstrated to me the
care with which imagers
were creating and
composing their work.
ANTHONY AYIOMAMITIS
M
.CO
ME
STI
E AM
/D R
TIS
8
G AI
GRI
AS
AN D
RO L
Santa Barbara Instrument cameras appeared in the
Group (SBIG) CCD cameras February 2000 issue. The
in the April 1998 issue. Each story, “Capture the Sky on a
sported a new advancement: CCD” by Gregory Terrance,
an additional chip that made was the first of a three-part
the cameras self-guiding. series on CCD imaging. And,
This was a huge moment for like most amateur efforts
imagers. No longer would during that time, the pictures
they have to sit with their that appeared with the sto-
eye glued to the eyepiece of ries would be tossed out by
a guide telescope, correct- today’s imagers.
ing for inconsistencies in the When I became photo
drive with tiny movements editor in 2003, the magazine
of the scope’s motors. In the was still receiving slides and
September 1999 issue, a sim- photographs in a rough
ple adaptive optics accessory, 3-to-1 ratio. To use them in
SBIG’s AO-7, promised relief the publication, I had to send
from the curse of atmo- each out to a photographic
spheric seeing. service company for scan-
9 The first roundup and ning. Amateurs didn’t start
recommendations of CCD sending digital images until
10
Astronomy
announced two
Santa Barbara
Instrument Group
CCD cameras in
the April 1998
issue. Each
sported a new
advancement: an
additional chip that
made the cameras
self-guiding.
2005, and those were all on amateur astronomers that
CD-ROM disks. Things are brought us to where we are
so much simpler now. now.
Hopefully, history will
A picturesque repeat itself so that when I
future write “100 years of astroimag-
Today’s astroimagers ben- ing” in the August 2073 issue,
efit from a half-century of we’ll all look back and
improvements in optics, chuckle at the “poor” state of
drives and mounts, cameras, early 21st-century imaging.
and software. We owe our Until then, keep shooting!
thanks to lots of inventors
and manufacturers who were Michael E. Bakich is a
willing to take a chance. Also, contributing editor of Astronomy
let’s not forget the hundreds who was fortunate enough to
of thousands of examples of also be the photo editor for 11
trial and error by dedicated more than 16 years.
12
13

13
11 For the August 2005
issue, astroimager
Brian Lula wrote “Image
Like a Pro.” Among the
pictures displayed was this
one of spiral galaxy IC 342,
which he captured during
a gibbous Moon. It
required 50 three-minute
exposures through a
20-inch telescope. BRIAN LULA
12 By 2010, eclipse
photography had
come a long way. This shot
of the July 11, 2010, total
solar eclipse, taken
through a 3.2-inch
telescope, was the first
to show shadow bands
on clouds. MIKE D. REYNOLDS
13 Only two years

separate these
images of the Orion
Nebula (M42), but new
processing techniques
used on the one to the
right, taken in 2009, put it
in another class. FROM LEFT:
WARREN A. KELLER; TONY HALLAS
14 Even wide-field
shots of the Milky
Way benefited from new
cameras, chips, and
software. The region of
Sagittarius to the left
was captured in 2013; the
one to the right in 1999.
FROM LEFT: JEFF DAI; JOHN CHUMACK
14
We owe our thanks to lots

of inventors and manufacturers
who were willing to
14
take a chance.
Send us your best
observing story
Win a Celestron scope by telling us your most
interesting night-sky tale. BY MICHAEL E. BAKICH
NASA, ESA, AND L. BIANCHI (THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY); PROCESSING: GLADYS KOBER (NASA/CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA)
IN THE AUTUMN OF 2002, I had a not-so-typical observing experience.
My wife and I lived in El Paso, Texas, and we had a small observatory just a
stone’s throw from our house. About 2 a.m. one morning, I walked out to the
building to observe some double stars. When I got there, I noticed the door
was ajar, and something about it felt odd.
So — and I’ve never done this Give it a shot be a sighting of Jupiter with its four
before or since — I pulled out a small Whether your most memorable sky Galilean moons in a notable pattern,
pocket flashlight and switched it on. session involves an unexpected visitor or a high-power look at the Moon’s
There, in the middle of the observa- or an unforgettable sight through the Clavius Crater with its curving pattern
tory, was an adult skunk. And it was eyepiece, we want to hear from you. of ever smaller craterlets. Alternatively,
looking right at me. Astronomy is accepting brief write- your story could be about something
I remember thinking, “Well, as long ups about your best, most remarkable, unique that happened during your
as it’s facing me, I’m safe.” I turned favorite, and/or weirdest observing astronomy journey or an observing
around and went back in the house to experience in celebration of our 50-year session, like my own story. In other
fetch a camera. A few seconds later I anniversary. The winner will receive words, any type of tale has a chance
returned to the yard, only to see my a brand-new 8-inch telescope from to win.
mammalian visitor scurrying out Celestron.
between the bars of the fence. Your most memorable observation Michael E. Bakich is a contributing
Of all the time spent in that obser- doesn’t have to be a 16th-magnitude editor of Astronomy who won a cash prize
vatory, the most profound lesson came quasar, Gyulbudaghyan’s Nebula, from Michigan State University for an
from that night: Always close your Pluto’s moon Charon, or individual observation of the occultation of Epsilon
doors. red giants in Omega Centauri. It could Geminorum by Mars in 1976.

THE RULES
SEND ENTRIES TO [email protected] with the
subject line, “Celestron Essay Contest.” The length must be between 50 to
350 words, and multiple essays are allowed. Please include your name, address, THE
and phone number. Contestants must reside in the U.S. and be over the age of PRIZE
18 on the date of submission. Employees and stockholders of Kalmbach Media
Co. or Celestron and their families are ineligible to participate. No purchase is
necessary to participate. Void where prohibited.
The winning entry will be chosen by Astronomy editors based on its flow,
clarity, and originality. The winner will be announced on Astronomy.com and
may appear in a future issue. The contest begins July 5, 2023, at 12:00:00 A.M.
CDT and ends no later than Aug. 31, 2023, at 11:59:59 A.M. CDT.
CELESTRON
The prize base, StarSense Explorer dock, eyepiece
Our friends at Celestron have demon- rack, 2" Crayford focuser with an exten-
strated their generosity by donating the sion tube and a 2" to 1¼" adapter, a
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MORE STORIES
JIM MAZUR/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Comets and dumbbells

NASA/BILL INGALLS
ON A CRISP MICHIGAN NIGHT many

years ago, my buddy and I went out to observe
a comet. We were both seasoned observers
and didn’t take a finder chart, only binoculars
Blazing tail and a 4¼-inch scope. After some effort, we
found a fuzzy object that had to be the comet.
ON MARCH 23, 1996, I journeyed to central Oregon to capture an My buddy finally said, “That’s not a comet, it’s a
image of Comet Hyakutake. Around 1 A.M. , the comet’s coma was near dumbbell like the two of us!” Indeed, it was the
Polaris and its tail stretched all the way into Hydra. The stars shining Dumbbell Nebula (M27). Never leave home
through the long tail produced an incredible 3D effect. I realized this without a finder chart.
was probably a once-in-a-lifetime view, and I needed to emblazon it in — RAYMOND SHUBINSKI, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
my memory forever.
— RODNEY POMMIER, ASTROIMAGER AND AUTHOR
SECRET SK Y
Meteor news Nearly a month later, on Nov. 20, 2022, Bryan Bailey
of Knoxville, Tennessee, saw a red meteor with a “bright
whitish nose and a long, sparkling, deep red tail. It was
I asked readers if anyone had seen a red meteor, one of the most miraculous things I have ever witnessed,”
and you answered. he says. That same night, Jason Morrow of Paducah,
Kentucky, was out walking his dog when he sighted what
Before delving into a was likely that same red fireball in the southwest. “It
meteoric X-file, I’d wasn’t extremely bright,” he says, “but noticeable.” He
like to share some red reports that it seemed wider than most meteors he’d seen,
meteor news. In my September and it seemed to “burn or even crumble toward the end.”
2021 Secret Sky column, I A month later, on Dec. 26, Gavin Peters in Adelaide,
described sighting a blood-red Australia, was looking due south when a “sparkly red/
meteor. As usual, I asked read- orange” meteor sliced the sky vertically for perhaps 20°
ers if they had seen a similar of sky, terminating about 10–15° above the horizon.
Canopus
phenomenon. I was amazed by The red meteor Phil Hartley saw around 10 p.m. over
the responses. Two years later, Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, England, on Jan. 22, 2023,
I am still receiving reports. made him think jovially of an “alien spaceship being shot
While seeing an all-red down.”
meteor is a rare occurrence for
any one person, they do appear X-Files: Silver Meteor
to be more frequent than I had Now, cue the theme music from The X-Files. Have you
imagined. What follows is a ever seen a silver meteor? In January 2023, I was setting
representative sample of these up my 3-inch Tele Vue refractor near the end of astro-
reports from across the globe. nomical twilight when a swift third-magnitude meteor
The “fiery red meteor” On the night of Aug. 2, 2021, flashed about midway up the west-northwestern sky over
that Frankie Lucena
recorded on Jan. 26, Julie Seiter of southeastern Indiana was out looking for Maun, Botswana. My first impression was a streak of
2023, at 01h06m UT, early Perseid meteors without luck. She decided to have molten aluminum, as the object’s sheen was similar to
facing south from one last look toward Perseus when she saw a “distinctly that of tinfoil.
Cabo Rojo, Puerto
Rico, is seen in this red meteor just drop” from the sky overhead. The The problem is, while meteors can have an aluminum
still image. For the descent was nearly vertical and slow, with a component, “aluminum would radiate in the
complete video of the
event, scan the QR
slight wobble about halfway through. The near-UV, in between the two strong emission
code below. FRANKIE sight made her think, “This is why the poets “This is why lines of Ca+, in the 390–400 nanometer wave-
LUCENA would say ‘a falling star.’ ” length range,” says Peter Jenniskens, a meteor
Clouds on April 21, 2022, almost made the poets expert at the SETI Institute in California.
Emily Weisse of State College, Pennsylvania, would say ‘a “Usually, it is a weak emission. Not sure what
give up on the Lyrid meteor shower. Then, falling star.’ ” combination of wavelengths would create the
around 11:00 p.m., she saw through a hole in impression of a ‘silver color.’ ”
the clouds a slow-moving red meteor. Its I wish I could blame the light of the silvery
long tail was streaking down toward the horizon from Moon, but there was no Moon in the sky. But seriously,
a point about 30° high in the northeast, slightly angled I am wondering if a color-contrast illusion was at play.
to the north. The spectacle was about as bright as Some aerosols from the Jan. 15, 2022, eruption of the
Jupiter, and it lasted a couple of seconds. “Long enough,” Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai volcano are still present
she says, “to spend a little time with it.” in the southern skies, giving us peach-toned astronomi-
In Nottingham, England, Robert Tomlinson was cal twilights. As silver is a neutral shade, it can be
“just about to come inside from imaging Saturn” on the complemented or enhanced by warm tones, such as
morning of July 9, 2022, when he saw a “huge red orange and pink, which create a peach color when
meteor” streak rapidly across the sky from west to east combined.
in about two seconds. “I have seen many meteors,” A preliminary bit of research into visual sightings of
Tomlinson says, “but I have never seen a red one! I meteors turned up no further accounts of silver ones,
BY STEPHEN didn’t even know they existed. It was magnificent. I will but if you know of any historical accounts, or have seen
JAMES O’MEARA never forget seeing it.” a silver meteor yourself, write to me at sjomeara31@
Stephen is a globe-
The “bright red” meteor that Heather Karrow of gmail.com.
trotting observer who
is always looking southern Wisconsin saw on Oct. 23, 2022, was both
for the next great “beautiful and jaw dropping,” lasting longer than other BROWSE THE “SECRET SKY” ARCHIVE AT
celestial event. meteors she saw that night. www.Astronomy.com/OMeara

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OBSERVING BASICS
Astrophotography astronomy purposes. Intervalometers can be pro-

grammed to activate the shutter for you (rather than you
manually depressing the shutter button), including in
without a scope Bulb mode, where you can set an arbitrary exposure
time. You can get an intervalometer for around $20.
Take long exposures — 15 to 60 seconds to avoid satura-
You don’t need fancy equipment to take stunning shots. tion — for at least one hour, although you can go all night.
I recommend taking images in JPEG format for ease of
processing, or you can convert raw shots to JPEGs later.
Processing star trail images is simple through free
software called Startrails (www.startrails.de). Simply load
all the photos, press the Startrails button, choose the
mode, and watch the magic. You can import the final
image into Photoshop or another image processor to
tweak colors, contrast, and other details.
Time-lapse videos
This same technique can be used to take time-lapse
videos of objects rising or setting, such as the Milky
Way, the constellation Orion, or a crescent Moon. In
this case, choose a short enough exposure that the
stars don’t trail as much. (Fifteen seconds is good for
an 18mm lens.) Otherwise, use the same the settings
and technique as for star trails.
There are many free and paid programs to turn indi-
The author took this vidual frames into a video. A favorite of mine is TimeLapse
image of star trails I got started in astrophotography in July 2015, DeFlicker ($35 at www.timelapsedeflicker.com), which
above observatory
domes from near San when I received my first telescope as a gift: an smooths variation in light between exposures. Add some
Pedro de Atacama, 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain on an altitude- space-themed music for a fun video of the night!
Chile, looking toward azimuth mount. After nearly falling over, seeing Saturn for
the South Celestial
Pole. MOLLY WAKELING the first time, I decided I must attach a camera to the tele- Nightscapes
scope somehow so I could share that beauty with the world. Nightscape (or skyscape) images are wide-field shots of
Astrophotography is often associated with expensive the night sky with a fascinating foreground, such as
telescopes, robotic mounts, and highly techni- mountains, buildings, or anything else you
cal challenges. But getting started can be easier might think of. Nightscape photos are best
than you think: All you need is a basic DSLR Getting taken in raw format and from dark loca-
and a tripod.
started can tions, far from cities.
A fast camera lens, such as a 14mm f/2, can
Star trails be easier capture the Milky Way rising using a single
Images of star trails are stunning and easy than you 20-second exposure. For an even more stun-
to make. Start with your DSLR and a short- think. ning image, photographers might take a single
focal-length lens (a stock 18–55mm zoom long exposure of the foreground — say 30 or
lens at 18mm is perfect) on a tripod, and 60 seconds, while lighting the landscape in
pick an area of sky. Capturing the motion of stars as some way — and then take several 15-second exposures
they wheel around the celestial poles is particularly of the sky to keep the stars from trailing. Stacking software
mesmerizing, so facing north (or south, in the Southern can align and combine the sky exposures into one bright,
Hemisphere) is a good place to start. A nice foreground, high-contrast image; the photographer then replaces the
such as a barn or a tent or even a distant tree line or sky in the foreground frame with the stacked sky frame.
mountain, will make for a captivating image. Eight years after my first astroimaging experience, I
BY MOLLY WAKELING In Manual mode, set the exposure time to 30 seconds now run four automated imaging rigs in my yard, with
Molly is an avid
and choose a relatively high ISO, such as 1600 or 3200. Use even bigger plans for the future. And I am thrilled to start
astrophotographer
active in STEM the widest f/stop, or stop down one or two if you are using sharing my knowledge and love of astronomy here!
outreach. She is a very fast lens, such as f/1.8. If your camera has a built-in
pursuing her Ph.D. in multiple-exposure mode, use that to trigger it. If not, an BROWSE THE “OBSERVING BASICS” ARCHIVE AT
nuclear engineering. intervalometer is an indispensable tool for all kinds of www.Astronomy.com/author/molly-wakeling

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giants that may show a soft
BINOCULAR UNIVERSE buttery tint if you slightly
defocus the view. Looks can
be deceiving, however. The
stars have no physical con-
Capricornus nection to each other, but

just happen to lie along the
same line of sight.
close-up Take a look back at the

magazine’s first column.
If you are using 10x50 or
larger binoculars, see if you
can resolve Alpha1, which
_ is a true multiple-star sys-
tem. Its brightest compan-
AQUARIUS
ion shines at 9th magnitude and lies 45" to the
` southwest. Due to the companion star’s faintness, however,
you’ll stand the best chance by first securing the binoculars
b a f e
l on a sturdy support to avoid shaking.
Beta Capricorni, also known as Dabih, is just 2.4° south-
CAPRICORNUS east of Alpha and so should lie in the same field of view. Even
¡ the lowest-power binoculars should easily resolve a pair of
stars. Beta1 and Beta2 are separated by 3.5', with the brighter
M30 c of the pair (at 3rd magnitude) designated Beta1 Capricorni.
41 s 5° Beta is actually a quintuple star, although binoculars only
24 show two stars. Beta1 has three components, while Beta2,
t
SAGITTARIUS shining at 6th magnitude, is a two-star system.
PISCIS AUSTRINUS
MICROSCOPIUM In contrast to the crowd of nebulae and clusters to its
west, Capricornus holds only one deep-sky target for bin-
The constellation oculars: globular cluster M30. Charles Messier discovered
Capricornus the
Sea Goat is one of
The premier issue of Astronomy featured a column M30 on Aug. 3, 1764. He wrote, “Nebula discovered below
the oldest in the called “Constellation Close-up” written by the tail of Capricorn. … One sees that nebula with difficulty
night sky. ASTRONOMY: Thomas C. Bretl. The first installment profiled the in an ordinary refractor; it is round, & I have not seen any
ROEN KELLY
zodiacal constellation Capricornus. In honor of the maga- star: diameter 2 minutes of arc.” It was left to William
UPPER RIGHT: zine’s anniversary, let’s rewind to 1973 and revisit Herschel to discover the true nature of Messier’s “nebula”
This star chart Capricornus with our binoculars to enjoy some of the same — that it contains myriad stars.
was featured in
Astronomy’s first targets that Mr. Bretl featured 50 years ago. Finding M30, which has an apparent magnitude of 7.1,
”Constellation Although its brightest star is barely above can be a chore due to its sparse surroundings.
Close-up” column.
ASTRONOMY
3rd magnitude, Capricornus is one of the oldest I always begin at Nashira (Gamma [γ]
constellations in the sky. Its origins date back Modern-day Capricorni) and Deneb Algedi (Delta [δ]
at least 3,500 years to summer in ancient Capricornus Capricorni) at the northeastern point of the
Mesopotamia. The name is Latin for “horned lies in the Capricornus triangle. Aim about halfway
goat,” but Capricornus is depicted as a sea-goat, between them and Omega (ω) Capricorni, at
with the front half of a goat melded to the tail
“wet” part of the triangle’s southern tip, to find 4th-
of a fish. Not something you see every day. the southern magnitude Zeta (ζ) Capricorni. Center on Zeta
Modern-day Capricornus lies in the “wet” sky, near and then look toward the eastern edge of the
part of the southern sky, near other watery con- other watery field for 5th-magnitude 41 Capricorni. M30
stellations such as Aquarius and Piscis lies less than ½° to its west.
Austrinus, just above the southeastern horizon.
constellations.
M30 through binoculars reflects Messier’s
Just seeing its brightest stars will challenge view much more than Herschel’s. Notes made
our unaided eyes from suburban locations, but zeroing in on through my 10x50s recall a round, misty patch of light
them is easy thanks to the far brighter Summer Triangle. By surrounding a brighter core. Larger binoculars increase
extending a line from Vega through Altair southeastward the apparent brightness of the cluster, which lies about
for 22°, you’ll come to Alpha (α) and Beta (β) Capricorni. 28,000 light-years from Earth, but do little more. Even my
They mark the northwestern corner of the Sea Goat’s 25x100s fail to resolve any of the several hundred thousand
BY PHIL arrowhead-shaped form and are fine binocular double stars. stars that call this tightly packed globular home.
HARRINGTON Alpha Capricorni, also known as Algedi, is easy to Questions, comments, suggestions? Drop me a line via
Phil received the
resolve into two stars with pocket binoculars. Alpha1, the my website, philharrington.net. Until we meet again next
Walter Scott Houston
Award at Stellafane
western star of the pair, is separated from Alpha2 by 6.6'. In month, remember that two eyes are better than one.
2018 for his lifelong fact, they can be resolved by eye alone given dark skies. But
work promoting and since they shine at magnitude 4.3 and 3.6, respectively, most BROWSE THE “BINOCULAR UNIVERSE” ARCHIVE AT
teaching astronomy. of us will need binoculars to see them. Both are yellow www.Astronomy.com/Harrington

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ASK ASTRO Astronomy’s experts from around the globe answer your cosmic questions.
disk that forms while the star is accreting

matter. The two classes may in fact overlap
— as of now, we do not know.
James B. Kaler
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
(July 1997 issue)
Additionally: Today, the International

Astronomical Union places the dividing
line between brown dwarfs and planets at
13 Jupiter masses. This is the minimum
mass required to ignite deuterium fusion.
(Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen.)
Alison Klesman
Senior Editor
QI
Sun WHERE IS THE CENTER
Low-mass star Brown dwarf OF THE UNIVERSE
Jupiter (WHERE THE BIG BANG
OCCURRED) AND WHERE IS
ITS EDGE?
Greatest hits AI As counterintuitive as it may seem, the universe

has no center, and it has no boundary.
The idea of a Big Bang acting like a giant fireworks
THE JULY 1997 ISSUE OF ASTRONOMY included an eight-page explosion hurtling matter and energy outward is per-
article titled “Ask Astro,” in which renowned stellar astronomer vasive, but misleading. As bizarre as it sounds, it wasn’t
James B. Kaler answered 20 reader-submitted questions. At the “stuff ” that exploded outward, it was space itself! In
end, a small sidebar announced: “Starting with the August issue, essence, the Big Bang happened everywhere. Since the
time of Einstein, it has been known that space is not
Astronomy will be running a monthly question-and-answer
simply a backdrop in which we move, but an actual
column.” Since then, this column has answered some 1,000 thing that can be measured. It has shape, it can be bent,
questions about science and the astronomy hobby. and it can expand.
Here are some of the most popular and poignant questions we’ve If this sounds nonsensical, think of the surface of a
answered through the years. The questions have been generalized, balloon expanding into three-dimensional space. A
as we’ve received variations of them over and over, while the two-dimensional creature confined to the surface of
answers are attributed to the writer according to their professional the balloon could never find the center, because the
position and affiliation at the time they provided it. center is located in 3D space, and not in the 2D space in
which the creature lives. We are 3D creatures stuck in
a universe with at least four dimensions, so we cannot
see the center of our universe. In fact, there’s no reason
ABOVE: Brown dwarfs why there has to even be a center anywhere.
are considered “failed
stars” whose masses
span the range between
QI WHY IS JUPITER NOT A STAR OR
A BROWN DWARF?
The same reasoning holds true for the “edge” of the
universe. Where is the edge of a balloon? To define an
edge (or a center), you need to assume that there is
the lowest-mass stars
and the highest-mass
planets. NASA’S GODDARD SPACE
FLIGHT CENTER
AI Although 318 times more massive than Earth,
Jupiter would need 80 times more mass for
its core to be hot enough to sustain thermonuclear
something into which the universe expands. As I just
explained above, that need not be true, and even if it is,
we can never detect this “metaverse.”
RIGHT: Professional
observatories such as
fusion — the creation of helium from four atoms of When thinking about cosmology, always remember
the Visible and Infrared hydrogen with the release of energy. Fusion generates the words of British biologist J.B.S. Haldane: “The uni-
Survey Telescope for the energy that allows stars to shine. verse is not only queerer than we suppose, it is queerer
Astronomy in Chile use
different techniques than Brown dwarfs are not massive enough to sustain than we can suppose.”
amateurs with smaller fusion, either. These “failed stars,” however, form Phil Plait
scopes do to protect their ACC, Inc.
entirely from interstellar gas. Planets, on the other
equipment. G. HÜDEPOHL (March 1999 issue)
(ATACAMAPHOTO.COM)/ESO
hand, assemble from the dust and gas of the remnant

QI HOW DO PROFESSIONAL
OBSERVATORIES DEAL
WITH DEW ON MIRRORS AND
LENSES?
AI As with amateur scopes, dew is

a potentially harmful problem
at professional observatories because the
water that accumulates on optical surfaces Although artist’s illustrations are often used to
can interfere with the telescope’s perfor- represent the Big Bang, there is no center and
mance, and it may leave a residue that is no boundary to the universe. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
difficult to remove once the water evapo-
rates. Cleaning these surfaces frequently lightning, and particulates in the air.
can be both expensive and impractical. Sometimes this decision goes against a
Most professional instruments use large visiting astronomer’s desires (and thus,
mirrors and do not have corrector plates like interesting conversations can follow). But
those we find on Schmidt-Cassegrain tele- the equipment is expensive, so erring on
scopes. Due to the area of a large mirror’s the side of caution is the typical policy.
surface (and the mirror’s mass), the amount Astronomers also build professional
of heat required to avoid the condensation observatories at high and dry locations
of water would raise the mirror’s tempera- atop mountains. Humidity levels that
ture, distort the incoming light, and ruin the exceed 80 percent at these locations usu-
quality of any data gathered. ally accompany poor observing condi-
Amateur astronomers also are often tions (especially clouds) that warrant
surprised by the amount of dust on the closing the facility anyway because data
optical surfaces at professional observato- gathered would be of poor quality. In
ries. While this dust does not interfere with mountainous locations, storms can
the observations, a dust particle can act as develop quickly during high humidity.
a nucleus for water to condense around and Adam Block
make a mess. Thus, most large observato- Mount Lemmon SkyCenter, University of Arizona
(February 2017 issue)
ries avoid dew by either closing the obser-
vatory well before a dew event is imminent
or by air-conditioning the facility so the
temperature stays the same as that SEND US YOUR QUESTIONS
outside. Send your astronomy questions via email to
[email protected], or write to
A telescope operator acts as a steward for Ask Astro, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha,
the facility and decides whether to open or WI 53187. Be sure to tell us your full name
close an observatory based on conditions and where you live. Unfortunately, we
such as high humidity, high winds, cannot answer all questions submitted.
READER GALLERY
Cosmic portraits
THE APRIL 1988 ISSUE OF ASTRONOMY debuted a new
department: Reader Reports, dedicated to covering sky events
and reader projects, compiled and written by then-Assistant
Editor David J. Eicher. “The editors of Astronomy look forward
to receiving your observations, photographs, and sketches of the
sky for possible inclusion,” the call for submissions stated — a
sentiment that remains just as true today.
The July 1989 issue introduced the characteristic gallery format
of a full spread of images, and those images grew ever more
spectacular over the years. In 1995, the section moved just inside
the back cover for greater visibility — where you find it now. For
this special edition, we wound back the clock to revisit some of the
most notable images from you, our readers.
1. HUMBLE BEGINNINGS through a 4-inch refractor, he said, “I … was

The first edition of Reader Reports featured astounded by the sight of the most magnificent
Comet Bradfield (C/1987 P1). At the end of 1987, prominences I have ever seen during an
the comet developed a prominent anti-tail, a eclipse.” • Glenn Schneider
stream of material that appears to point toward
the Sun. “Of the comets I’ve seen in the past 3. ANALOG TO DIGITAL
15 years — over 50 in all — this one is a real The first digital image to appear in Reader
gem,” wrote Chris Schur, then of Black Canyon Reports was of Mars’ 1988 opposition.
City, Arizona. He photographed the comet and Members of the Santa Barbara Astronomy
its anti-tail on Dec. 20, 1987, with an 8-inch f/1.5 Club led by Thomas W. Fuller used a CCD
Schmidt camera and hypersensitized Tech Pan camera mounted to a 16.5-inch Cassegrain
film. He used a yellow filter for the 10-minute telescope — stopped down to a 5-inch
exposure. • Chris Schur aperture — at Westmont College. The
exposures were “about 1/8-second each
2. RISING TO PROMINENCE and were made by hand using a cardboard
In the next edition of Reader Reports, Glenn shutter,” processed in a 256-step grayscale,
Schneider of Baltimore relayed his observations
of the total solar eclipse of March 17/18, 1988,
and printed “on a high-resolution dot-
matrix printer.” • Thomas W. Fuller/
3
from Bangka Island, Indonesia. Glancing Clyde Kirkpatrick/Ramona White

4 5
4. HISTORY IN THE MAKING

When Venus transited the Sun on
June 8, 2004, it was a new experience
for everybody — no one had been alive
to see the previous one in 1882. This
Hα image was taken with a 5-inch
refractor, a Pentax LX camera, and Elite
Chrome 100 film. It consists of two
exposures: 1/8-second for prominences
and 1/30-second for disk detail.
• Marco Cosmacini/Marzia Muradore
5. ABSORBING THE BLOWS

December 1994’s special edition of
Reader Reports published images
of Jupiter being pounded by the
fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy
(D/1993 F2). The impact sites are
visible as dark spots in the planet’s
cloudtops in this image from a 16-inch
f/7 reflector and a Lynxx CCD camera,
taken July 25, 1994. • Donald C. Parker
6. PHOTO FINISH
For the magazine’s 25th anniversary, a
6 photo contest was held with two
divisions: electronic images and film.
The runner-up in the film division was
this composite shot of the venerable
Orion Nebula (M42), taken with a 12.5-
inch refractor at f/5 and two 30-minute
exposures on Fuji Super HG 800 film.
• B. Frank Hinson/J. Steve Foster
7. HISTORIC HALE-BOPP
Comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1) and the
Andromeda Galaxy (M31) glow over
Wukoki, a 900-year-old pueblo in
Wupatki National Monument in
Arizona, on March 29, 1997. The shot
was taken with a 50mm lens at f/2.8,
Fujicolor 800 film, and a six-minute
exposure, with the ruins illuminated by
photoflash. • Joshua Vaughan
8. HYAKUTAKE, THE HYPE MAN

In the history of this magazine, no
single event sparked more interest in
the night sky than Hale-Bopp’s pass in
1997 — but Comet Hyakutake
(C/1996 B2) the year before was no
slouch, either. Hyakutake’s filamentary
tail was captured with a 7.5-inch f/2
Schmidt camera and Kodak Gold 400
film in this four-minute exposure taken
8 April 17, 1996. • Gerald Rhemann and
Franz Kersche
7
READER GALLERY
9. A STAR IS BORN The now-ubiquitous

Self-taught astroimager Tony process brought a new
Hallas won Astronomy’s colorway to the cosmos,
astroimaging contest in the trading the deep scarlets
September 2009 issue with of LRGB images for bright
this spectacular LRGB mosaic amber and brilliant blues.
of our nearest neighboring • Ken Crawford
spiral, the Andromeda
Galaxy (M31). The image is 11. THE ADVENTURE
composed of 19 panels taken CONTINUES
with two different scopes Intricate ribbons of dust are
and CCD cameras, totaling bathed in cool blue light
roughly 19 hours of exposure. from the Pleiades (M45) in
A year later, Hallas began this image taken over
writing a regular column for 11.2 hours with a DSLR and
this magazine, sharing his a 300mm lens at ISO 800.
imaging expertise and Astroimagers continue to be
techniques. • Tony Hallas pioneers in our exploration
of the cosmos, using new
10. AESTHETIC equipment, developing
INNOVATION techniques, and forging
The emission nebula IC 2944 collaborations to go deeper
in Centaurus anchors this and reveal ever fainter detail
image — one of the first in — even in familiar naked-
this department to feature eye objects. The editors of
data with narrowband filters Astronomy look forward to
processed in what came to seeing what you find next.
be known as the Hubble • William Ostling
palette: SII mapped to red,
Hα to green, and OIII to blue.
SEND YOUR IMAGES TO:

[email protected].
Please include the date and location of the image
and complete photo data: telescope, camera,
filters, and exposures.

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INDEX of ADVERTISERS
2023 Astronomical League Convention . . . . . . 67
American Association of Variable Star Observers .5
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Armstrong Metalcrafts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Bob’s Knobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Celestron. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Charles Fulco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Daniel R Spirer Jewelers, LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Dream Telescopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
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Eclipse Traveler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
Exclusive Astronomy Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
Hightech Dynamics Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
Interstellar Collection, LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
iOptron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Knightware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Deep-Sky Planner 8
Lowell Observatory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
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NEAF DEALER PAGE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Exceptional Planning & Logging
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11 The Advertiser Index is provided as a service to Astronomy

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BREAKTHROUGH
HAPPY
BIRTHDAY,
HUBBLE
Everybody loves a party.
And scientists couldn’t
wait to celebrate the
Hubble Space Telescope’s
33rd birthday with a
magnificent portrait of
NGC 1333. This stellar
nursery lies about
960 light-years from Earth
at the edge of the Perseus
molecular cloud. A hotbed
of star formation near the
Hero’s southern border,
NGC 1333 hosts several
hundred newly formed
suns embedded within
thick clouds of dust and
cold molecular hydrogen.
Just a few of these
youngsters manage to
shine through. Near the
image’s top, dust scatters
light from a brilliant blue
star. Thicker dust notably
dims a second bright star
near the photo’s center.
The ruddy glow near the
image’s bottom offers
a view deeper into the
nebula, where blazing hot
stars ionize surrounding
hydrogen atoms. During
its 33 years in low Earth
orbit, Hubble has viewed
nearly 52,000 celestial
objects. NASA/ESA/STSCI

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Precise GoTo: Supercharge your pointing accuracy

You can count on your Celestron mount to place any object in the field
of view of a low-powered eyepiece. But when you add StarSense
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Autoguiding: Create your celestial masterpiece

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SOUTHERN SKY BY MARTIN GEORGE
October 2023
A blazing ring of fire
As twilight fades in If you wait a couple of hours month, it makes up for this scientific endeavours, including
October, the solar for Jupiter to climb higher in transgression with a nice solar botany and astronomy.
system’s most beautiful planet the sky, you’ll be rewarded with eclipse. On October 14, the In 1754, Hill published the
takes center stage. Saturn stunning views through any Moon passes directly in front book Urania: or a Compleat
stands out because its ring telescope. The planet’s disk of our star and delivers an view of the Heavens; containing
system looks spectacular spans 49" and its colorful cloud annular solar eclipse to lucky the Ancient and Modern
through telescopes of all sizes. tops show plenty of detail. Also observers along the eclipse’s Astronomy in Form of a
The rings appear so bright that keep an eye out for the planet’s central path. Dictionary. (Further subtitles
even Galileo saw them in 1610 four large moons: Io, Europa, The track of annularity runs enhanced the title page.)
with his primitive (by today’s Ganymede, and Callisto. through parts of the United One of the constellations
standards) refractor. The great Galileo also discovered this States, Mexico, and Central Hill introduced was the Pen
scientist did not realize that celestial quartet during his ini- America before reaching South Shell, which consisted of stars
he was looking at a circular tial observations of the heavens America. Residents along the in parts of today’s Aquila the
structure around the planet, in 1610. path in Colombia and Brazil Eagle and Scutum the Shield. A
however. That discovery would A third planet bears watch- will see the Sun reduced to a pen shell is a bivalve mollusk, a
fall to Christian Huygens using ing in October. Brilliant Venus ring of fire as the Moon nearly Mediterranean variety of which,
a far superior instrument in rises about two hours before covers our star. Residents in Pinna nobilis, is a source of sea
1655. You can repeat these his- the Sun and remains visible most of the rest of South silk. This silk came from the
toric 17th-century observations well into twilight. Shining at America will witness a partial byssus, a bundle of threads that
with a small scope any clear magnitude –4.6, it appears five eclipse. Be sure to use a safe attached the bivalve to rocks.
night this month. times brighter than Jupiter. The solar filter if you choose to view Hill commented that his
Saturn currently shines at inner world reaches its peak at the eclipsed Sun directly. constellation was “between
magnitude 0.6 among the greatest elongation October 23, A partial lunar eclipse Antinous, the Serpent
background stars of Aquarius when it lies 46° west of the Sun occurs October 28 with the [Serpens], and Sagittary
the Water-bearer. Any tele- and climbs 15° above the hori- best views coming to those [Sagittarius].” Antinous,
scope reveals the planet’s zon an hour before sunup. in Africa. The event begins formed from some of Aquila’s
18"-diameter disk surrounded Venus remains a fine sight at 19h35m UT and ends at stars, was said to have been a
by a ring system that spans 41" through a telescope, though its 20h54m UT. Maximum eclipse lover of the Roman Emperor
and tilts 10° to our line of sight. apparent diameter wanes while arrives at 20h14m UT when Hadrian. It did not survive as
The 8th-magnitude moon its phase waxes. On October 1, Earth’s dark umbral shadow a separate constellation.
Titan also shows up easily. A the planet spans 32" and shows covers 13 percent of the Moon’s Although you’ll have a hard
10-centimeter scope brings in a 36-percent-lit phase. By the diameter. time finding the shape of a pen
three more satellites — 10th- 31st, it appears 22" across and shell in the stars that Hill
magnitude Tethys, Dione, and the Sun illuminates 54 percent The starry sky assigned to his constellation,
Rhea — closer to the planet. of its Earth-facing hemisphere. Over the past centuries, many you can at least see where it was
By midevening, Jupiter The solar system’s other two constellations have bubbled in October’s evening sky. The
pokes above the eastern hori- bright planets lie too close to into existence only to fall into stars Eta (η) Scuti and 12
zon. Gleaming at magnitude the Sun to see this month. disuse decades later. This Aquilae formed the byssus of
–2.9, it dramatically outshines Mars succumbed to the Sun’s month I want to draw your the mollusk while Alpha (α),
Saturn and every other point of glare in September and won’t attention to one of the star Beta (β), Delta (δ), and Epsilon
light in the evening sky. Jupiter return to view until January. groups John Hill (1716–1775) (ε) Sct fashioned the shell itself.
resides against the backdrop of Mercury passes on the far side invented in the mid-18th centu- Hill also referred to a star
Aries the Ram, though the of the Sun at superior conjunc- ry. Hill, the son of a clergyman where the byssus joined the
planet makes a better guide to tion October 20. from Lincolnshire in England, shell; it seems to correspond to
this constellation’s stars than Although the Sun removes pursued writing — from poetry the position of the well-known
vice versa. two planets from our view this to plays — as well as several variable star R Sct.
STAR DOME
S
C RU
X
516
MUSCA
CE
NT S
AU ` AN
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S
_ CIR
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HOW TO USE THIS MAP AU
US
This map portrays the sky as seen S
TR TRA
C HA M A E L E O N
near 30° south latitude. Located IA
NG LE 070 2
UL A
MENS NGC
inside the border are the cardinal
SW
UM
directions and their intermediate SCP
points. To find stars, hold the map APU S
LU
S Y DRU H UM L
CU
PU
overhead and orient it so one of N
S
the labels matches the direction M
R
O
AR
you’re facing. The stars above A A
SMC
N
the map’s horizon now match
GC
NG O C TA N S
what’s in the sky.
6
PA V
23
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1
63 04
NG C 1
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97
SC
The all-sky map shows ern
ar
T U C A NA
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how the sky looks at: Ac
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Anta
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IU
SC
AU R O
10 P.M. October 1
res
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9 P.M. October 15
PI
T RA A
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8 P.M. October 31
N
M7
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IN
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DU
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Planets are shown
IX
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at midmonth
SA
CR
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TOR
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M20
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SC
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MAP SYMBOLS
IUS
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aut
AU S C
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W
SCUTUM
Open cluster ST IS
alh
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Fom
Globular cluster N
U
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Diffuse nebula
CA
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Saturn
Planetary nebula
M11
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Galaxy
S C
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Path
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1.0 4.0 IN ASU
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LA
STAR COLORS CY
A star’s color depends GN
US
N
on its surface temperature.

W
L AC E RTA
•• The hottest stars shine blue

Slightly cooler stars appear white
• Intermediate stars (like the Sun) glow yellow
• Lower-temperature stars appear orange Den
e
• The coolest stars glow red
b
• Fainter stars can’t excite our eyes’ color

receptors, so they appear white unless you
use optical aid to gather more light
N
BEGINNERS: WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT HOW TO READ A STAR CHART AT
www.Astronomy.com/starchart.
A
OCTOBER 2023
IN
SUN. MON. TUES. WED. THURS. FRI. SAT.
R
NGC CA
VO
OR 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
T s
IC P opu
n
Ca
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
BA
SE
M
C O
LM
LU
D
A
O
R
C
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY

D
T 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
RE
M
U
EL
CA
M
IU
G 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
LO
RO
O
H
29 30 31
Note: Moon phases in the calendar vary in size due to the distance
from Earth and are shown at 0h Universal Time.
S NU
R I DA
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
OE
1 Asteroid Pallas is in conjunction with the Sun, 16h UT

PH
2 The Moon passes 3° north of Jupiter, 3h UT

SGP
Asteroid Amphitrite is at opposition, 7h UT

N G C 25
The Moon passes 3° north of Uranus, 17h UT

6 Last Quarter Moon occurs at 13h48m UT
Mira
10 The Moon is at apogee (405,425 kilometers from Earth), 3h42m UT

Venus passes 2° south of Regulus, 5h UT
The Moon passes 6° north of Venus, 10h UT
S
TU
he S 11 Pluto is stationary, 0h UT
CE
un (e
c li p t
iter
ic)
14 New Moon occurs at 17h55m UT; annular solar eclipse
Jup
snu
18 The Moon passes 0.8° north of Antares, 14h UT

ES
Ura
SC
20
PI
Mercury is in superior conjunction, 6h UT

22
ES
Orionid meteor shower peaks

RI
A
First Quarter Moon occurs at 3h29m UT

23 Venus is at greatest western elongation (46°), 23h UT
24 The Moon passes 3° south of Saturn, 8h UT
33 M
M
LU 26 The Moon passes 1.5° south of Neptune, 1h UT
U
E
G
N
N The Moon is at perigee (364,872 kilometers from Earth), 3h02m UT

IA
R
T
M3
1 28 Full Moon occurs at 20h24m UT; partial lunar eclipse
29 The Moon passes 3° north of Jupiter, 8h UT
E DA
OM
DR 30 The Moon passes 3° north of Uranus, 2h UT
AN
OVER
1000 PRODUCTS!
INCLUDING EXCLUSIVES
FROM ASTRONOMY
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products curated by the Astronomy magazine
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10 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2023

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16 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2023

“better way” to get there. He worried about the would inevitably

Astronomy magazine’s look changed through the years:

awaited. I was hired as the junior assistant

EXCLUSIVE REPORT // ANTARCTICA ECLIPSE JOURNEY! p. 24

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20 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2023

22 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2023

David J. Eicher is editor of Astronomy, the

24 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2023

CARL SAGAN WROTE in the (KBOs) now known, Pluto

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IT’S A BIG SOLAR SYSTEM

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(45.7 cm), had a rounded base Hydrogen-alpha wavelength The 1980s

THE SOLAR SYSTEM’S CHANGING LANDSCAPE AS IT APPEARS IN EARTH’S SKY.

Mars near the Moon, Mercury

Saturn’s time to shine

36 ASTRONOMY • AUGUST 2023

brightest ring, the B ring. Darker ance of even smaller craters.

The all-sky map shows

•• The hottest stars shine blue