Our astronomical adventure in the hills of mid-Wales starts on an unlucky note. The autumnal sunshine of earlier has been swept away by a persistent drizzle rolling across the valleys and hilltops of

Meteors are remnants from the creation of our Solar System that burn up when they hit Earth’s atmosphere. As they vaporise, typically 80km to 120km (50–75 miles) above the ground, they leave a trail o

1 Sunday Ganymede disappears into Jupiter’s shadow at 19:48 UT, reappearing again at 23:11 UT. 5 ◀ Thursday From now until 26 March is the optimum time for this month’s Deep-Sky Tour (page 56) of obje

When to use this chart 1 Feb 00:00 AEDT (31 Jan, 13:00 UT) 15 Feb 23:00 AEDT (12:00 UT) 28 Feb 22:00 AEDT (11:00 UT) The chart accurately matches the sky on the dates and times shown for Sydney, Austr

The meteor draws a luminous stroke across the darkness and vanishes, like a firework that forgot to boom. Thrusting my cold hand skywards as the bright light flares, I shout “Wow, there goes another o

Just north of mag. +3.9 Asellus Australis (Delta (δ) Cancri), you’ll spot a ‘little cloud’, which is what ‘Nephelion’, M44’s ancient Greek name, means. At only 577 lightyears away, M44 (also known as