Mercury returns to twilight

BEST TIME TO SEE: From 03:30 BST (02:30 UT) all month. Closest approach on 12 August Venus is the brightest planet that can be seen from Earth. At its peak brightness, when 22% illuminated, Venus appr

Best time to see: 31 August, 04:00 BST (03:00 UT) Altitude: 48° Location: Taurus Direction: Southeast Features: Colour, subtle atmospheric banding, moons Recommended equipment: 200mm or larger It’s su

Isn’t it amazing that astronomy – humanity’s oldest science – continues to generate such a delightful amount of new knowledge? Seeing as we’ve been studying the motion of the stars for a good long whi

1 Our Moonwatch target (see page 52), the walled plain Flammarion, is well placed this evening and tomorrow evening. You can also catch it on the waning Moon on the morning of 16 August. 2 This evenin

Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through the fine dust debris strewn around the orbit of a comet. This happens when Earth is in a similar position in its orbit every year, and meteor showers rep

Of the hundreds of thousands of asteroids in our solar system, it is all too feasible that one could strike Earth. If scientists discover this is likely to happen, what are our options for defending ourselves – and who will make the key decisions? Tomas Weber reports