Imagine you’re in a woodland, with sunlight filtering through the endless green canopy overhead. There’s uniqueness everywhere. Some trees grow bolt upright, but others are wizened and twisted. Here t

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

1. The Hyades The V-shaped Hyades open star cluster is next to mag. +1.0 Aldebaran (Alpha (α) Tauri), the reddish eye of the Bull, a foreground star that’s not actually part of the cluster. At 153 lig

One of the most important features of extrasolar planets is whether they have an atmosphere or not. For astrobiology in particular, small, rocky planets blanketed with an atmosphere offer the best hop

A look at some of the thousands of astronomical objects visible in Hubble’s historic photograph

From colliding galaxies to supermassive black holes, we take a look at some of the strangest sights in the universe