Charting the heavens

Messier 35 is a superb open cluster near the foot of Castor in Gemini. It marks one corner of an isosceles triangle formed with mag. +4.2 1 Geminorum and Propus (Eta (η) Geminorum). Located 2,800 ligh

You may have bought this December issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine because you’ve been given – or you’ve treated yourself to – a new telescope for Christmas. And you may be wondering what to do with

Cecil Navick and Francis Bozon, captured remotely via Obstech, El Sauce Observatory, Chile, 4 May–28 June 2025 Cecil and Francis say: “We chose NGC 6164 because it’s rarely photographed, plus it’s a t

Astronomers are now regularly detecting planets thousands of light years from Earth – but have we missed one in our own Solar System?

10x 50 Winter skies teem with sparkling star clusters and one of the finest is M35, aptly dubbed the Queen of Clusters. Find mag. +2.9 Tejat (Mu (μ) Geminorum) and put it at the southeast edge of your

As an astronomer, I collect stars. There are several hundred billion of them in our Galaxy, the Milky Way, so it’s important to find a way to categorise them. While others might rank their stars by co