10 christmas crackers for your new telescope

Autumn, winter and spring are the best seasons to stargaze, says Neill Sanders, outreach astronomer at gostargazing.co.uk. “Most stargazing events are organised from the time clocks go back in October

2 Sunday Mag. +0.4 Saturn is 5.7° from this morning’s 82%-lit waxing gibbous Moon. Catch them together before they set at around 01:00 UT. Tuesday 4 Callisto’s shadow transits Jupiter’s disc from 07:0

Exciting ways to get away from it all

First up is the mag. +11.9 planetary nebula IC 351, located 2.3° west and 0.8° south of Menkib (Xi (ξ) Persei). Despite its small apparent size – just 8 x 6 arcminutes – it’s visible through a small s

Imagine this: you set up a small telescope in your back garden. On your phone’s screen, you tap on the Orion Nebula. Seconds later, the scope slews to it, focuses and begins revealing the colourful sw

How many times have you heard that Uranus can be seen with the naked eye? We’ve certainly mentioned it often, but have you actually tried it? Chances are you haven’t, and even if you have, you may hav