The first of a major series of satellites produced by Elon Musk’s SpaceX corporation have been launched, and are already causing consternation among astronomers (see update below). A string of 60 satellites have been seen crossing the night sky, and the plan is eventually to launch 12,000 such satellites. Read more
If you thought that SKA was a style of Jamaican music, think again. It’s an amazing new radio telescope with a collecting area of a whole square kilometre – the Square Kilometre Array, geddit? – that is currently being built across Australia and South Africa. Read more
With no bright planets easily visible in the evening sky at the moment, we need to turn to fainter objects. This is a great time to try your hand at observing galaxies millions of light years away. Read more
There may be a dearth of major planets in the night sky at the moment – Mars is now getting lost in the evening twilight over in the west, and Jupiter doesn’t rise until the early hours of the morning – but there’s a minor planet around that is well worth a look. Read more
Another series of evening passes of the International Space Station over the UK starts on Wednesday, 21 March, and continues until 7 April. Read more
Comet Iwamoto is still high in the evening sky, but if you’re hoping to see a blazing object with a fine tail, you will be disappointed. Read more
Comets get people excited, and even a faint one provides a new target for us to search for. Comet Iwamoto promises to be just such a comet, a fleeting visitor to our skies that will prove a challenge to many people, but with the great advantage that it’s accessible at a good time in the evening and high up in the sky, in Leo. Read more
Clouds interfered with viewing of Monday morning’s total eclipse of the Moon across much of the UK, but some northern areas and the south-eastern corner of England had clear skies. Read more
There’s a total eclipse of the Moon on Monday 21 January 2019. Great news, but there’s one slight problem – it occurs in the wee small hours of the morning. Read more
From Thursday 10 to Sunday 13 January 2019, people all over the world will be turning their eyes, binoculars and telescopes on the skies to take part in 100 Hours of Astronomy. And anyone in the UK (with clear skies!) can join in using our guide to the sky. Read more