Comets and asteroids

The interstellar comet or spacecraft, 3I/Atlas (FT465:27) excited the world of ufology in 2025. Despite Avi Loeb’s best efforts, most experts regarded it as an unusual object but not a 33-billion-ton

Comet 3I/ATLAS is an immensely interesting object. It was discovered on 1 July 2025 by the Asteroid Terrestrialimpact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey telescope in Chile, when it was 4.5 AU from the S

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

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

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

HUMANITY HAS CHANGED AN AWFUL LOT IN THE PAST 58 YEARS. THE MOON? NOT SO MUCH. It was in 1968 that astronauts first drew near the moon, and it will be early this year, if all goes as planned, that a c