Get to know lunar rays

Astronomers love a challenge. They place their observatories on the highest mountains, in the driest deserts, on the coldest ice shelves, beneath the deepest oceans, in orbit around Earth and the Sun,

Prinz is an interesting, incomplete crater you’ll find near bright Aristarchus, the brightest large crater visible on the Earth-facing side of the Moon. Unlike sharp and relatively youthful-looking Ar

Planetary physicist Dr Sheila Kanani on why now is the time to spot shooting stars and a sunlit Saturn

Thursday 2 Dwarf planet Ceres reaches opposition in the constellation of Cetus, shining at mag. +7.6. Find further details on page 47. Friday ▶ 3 Tonight and the night of 17/18 October are good times

BEST TIME TO SEE: 7 September 2025, from moonrise around 19:45 BST (18:45 UT) Remember the total lunar eclipse back in March? Unfortunately, for many observers across the UK, the weather wasn’t good,

Supermoons, micromoons and all the in-between Moons occur because the Moon’s orbit around Earth (or, more accurately, around the Earth–Moon barycentre) isn’t circular but elliptical. This means the Mo