The mystery of messier 102

Star and deep-sky catalogues are crucial resources for making sense of the night sky. There are a lot of them, though – so many, in fact, that you almost need a catalogue of catalogues to keep track o

1 NGC 697 Not to be unkind, but Aries isn’t generally regarded as a rich haven for amateur deep-sky jewels. However, we’re going to look hard and visit a light smattering of objects near the Aries–Pis

The faint, rather indistinct constellation Camelopardalis is supposed to represent a giraffe. It sits between Polaris (Alpha (α) Ursae Minoris) and Capella (Alpha (α) Aurigae). Our first target is loc

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

In a remote mountain range in Chile, a newly unveiled observatory will soon begin mapping the sky. When its survey starts, the Vera C Rubin Observatory will spend every night for the next decade chart

1. Psi Aquarii group 10x 50 This colourful grouping of stars spans nearly 5° of sky, from mag. +5.0 Psi3 (ψ3) Aquarii to mag. +5.6 96 Aquarii. The colours range from blue-white mag. +5.5 Psi2 (ψ2) Aqu