Science
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Crush: Close Encounters with Gravity
Gravity is something that we're all innately familiar with. It keeps our feet on the ground, fights against a rocket trying to leave Earth and governs the movement of the planets and stars.
1 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Exploring the Universe
There's no shortage of children's books about astronomy.
2 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Make your Milky Way images pop
Simple, free processing techniques using FastStone Image Viewer
3 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Nightfaring: In Search of the Disappearing Darkness
This book is a manifesto for dark skies, written as a travel memoir.
1 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Flying saucers- The making of a modern myth
Our obsession with UFOs goes back further than you might think. Robert Pateman traces how early science fiction, dubious sightings and an alien-mad media led to the 1950s saucer fever
9 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
STAR OF THE MONTH
Alphecca, the brightest jewel in the Crown
1 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
How to use a planisphere
Navigate the sky with the original stargazer's tool. No batteries, apps or Wi-Fi required!
3 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Why rockets don't launch straight up
For a rocket to get its payload into space, it has to follow a curved path. But what would happen if it didn't?
2 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Q&A WITH A DARK MATTER SPECIALIST
Dark matter makes up 27 per cent of all matter in the Universe. So why is it so hard to find? Meet one of the people making a map that leads us to it
3 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Why I want to put a hotel on the Moon
Bored of the beach? Sick of city breaks? Step this way. Space entrepreneur Skyler Chan explains how he'll build a holiday destination on the Moon by 2030
2 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Did we find - and kill - life on Mars 50 years ago?
The Viking landers may have found organic molecules, but accidentally destroyed them
1 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
2026 Lyrids
The Lyrid meteor shower brings several months of lean meteor activity to an end.
1 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
The Milky Way's heart may not be a black hole
Extreme gravity effects could be down to fermionic dark matter, not Sagittarius A*
1 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
RVO Horizon 15-30x80 zoom observational binoculars
Sturdy budget-friendly binos that outperform beginner telescopes
4 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
GEAR
Charlotte Daniels rounds up the latest astronomical accessories
1 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
What was that strange flash?
Seen something in the night sky you can't explain? Pete Lawrence takes us through what lies behind those odd lights
3 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Plato's Hook
The 100km-wide crater Plato forms a distinctive dark oval at the top of Mare Imbrium.
2 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Player One Uranus-C (IMX585) USB 3.0 colour camera
Outstanding mid-price powerhouse that excels for planets and deep sky alike
4 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
COMETS AND ASTEROIDS
Rare asteroid 13 Egeria will be brightest on 19 April
1 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Rogue wandering black hole eats star
Odd off-centre flare may be a feasting black hole flung out of its galaxy
2 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
The hoax from outer space
April is hoax season and space has long been fertile ground for mischief. Paul Fisher Cockburn asks what makes a good space hoax and why even the silliest stories spread like wildfire
7 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Capture the Crown
How to image Corona Borealis – and maybe even see one of its stars erupt
3 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
INSIDE THE SKY AT NIGHT
We use X-rays to uncover the fiercest, most extreme events in the Universe. But, as George Dransfield explains, they're brilliant for quieter, slow-burn science too
3 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
THE SKY GUIDE CHALLENGE
Can you do the splits? Head to Boötes to see how many double stars you can separate
2 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Space travel is far from straightforward
Even once you're up in space, the best route from A to B is rarely a straight line
1 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
How a student recreated cosmic dust in her lab
Researcher makes a simulated star nursery to produce the building blocks of life
1 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Flying across alien skies
Katrin Raynor reveals how Ingenuity's triumph on Mars opened up a bold new era of flight on other worlds
7 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Venus conjunctions
There are some interesting conjunctions involving Venus this month.
1 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
'Inside out' solar system discovered
A distant star has overturned the traditional model of planet formation
1 min |
April 2026
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
NASA adds an extra mission to Artemis programme
Artemis III shifts from a lunar landing to low-orbit tests of key mission systems
1 min |