THE SKY GUIDE CHALLENGE

Can you beat Sirius's glare to identify its faint companion the Pup Star?

BINOCULAR TOUR With Steve Tonkin

This month we're off to a dog show, finding the best in class in Canis Major

STAR OF THE MONTH

Muscida, the nose of the Great Bear, Ursa Major

COMETS AND ASTEROIDS

Fingers crossed for comet C/2022 E3 ZTF reaching naked-eye visibility this month

Fra Mauro

Fra Mauro is a quintessential example of a walled plain. Measuring 96km in diameter and 800m in depth, its ancient form can be located east of 300km Mare Cognitum, the sea that has become known’.

Jupiter

Jupiter is rapidly losing ground to the evening twilight, appearing 29° above the southwest horizon under deep twilight conditions at the start of the month, but reaching only 12° above the western horizon by the time we reach the end of the month.

Favourable southwest lunar libration

BEST TIME TO SEE: 9-16 February

Venusian encounters

BEST TIME TO SEE: From 15 February, after sunset

Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF

BEST TIME TO SEE: 8-23 February

Chelyabinsk 10 years on

In 2013 Ezzy Pearson visited the site of a massive meteor explosion. A decade later she looks back at what we learned from the event

First date with a DSLR

Taking nightscapes and Star trails with a DSLR camera Is a great way to get started In astrophotography. Stuart Atkinson gives his best tips for beginners

FIELD OF VIEW

When the cosmos changes history, Jonathan Powell tracks celestial events that have altered world affairs

CBeebies Stargazing

There is no episode of The Sky at Night in February, but there is a wealth of astronomy and stargazing content on the BBC iPlayer that's suitable for children and young astronomers.

Looking back: The Sky at Night

18 February 1976,

INSIDE THE SKY AT NIGHT

In The Sky at Night's last episode of 2022, Douglas Vakoch looked into how humanity could reach out and contact other worlds

Expansion leads to increased tension

JWST observations seem to confirm cosmology's biggest conundrum

JWST reveals active exoplanet atmospheres

The telescope has found evidence of atmospheric reactions above an exoplanet

Japan heads to the Moon

Hakuto-R, a commercial lunar lander from Japanese company iSpace, launched on 11 December and entered lunar orbit three days later.

Early galaxies lack cold hydrogen glow

A missing radio signal narrows down theories about infant galaxies

Splashdown for Artemis

The Orion capsule successfully splashed down into the Pacific Ocean on 11 December at 9:40 am PST Pacific Standard Time), completing Artemis the first test flight in a programme to return humans to the Moon's surface.

Are extended cycles shaping sunspots?

Twin 17-year solar cycles could be controlling the Sun's activity

Previously unknown minerals identified in meteorite

The discovery could help geologists to uncover conditions deep inside growing planets

Concern grows over bright satellites

Astronomers have called for more protections of our night sky

STAR RING ROLE

Towards the centre of a spiral galaxy, a ring of stars circles a black hole, VERY LARGE TELESCOPE, 23 NOVEMBER 2022

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY GALLERY

A huge solar prominence

Artemis I takes aim at the Moon

Efforts to get the test mission off the ground hit last-minute snags

THE CARTWHEEL IN SPACE

Another stunning image from the largest space telescope ever launched shows just what this new observatory can do

Betelgeuse's spectacular blow-out

A mass ejection larger than the Moon caused the star's dimming in 2019

Astronomy X Photographer of the Year

BBC Sky at Night Magazine is proud to reveal the 2022 winners of the world's biggest astrophotography contest.

Our experts examine the hottest new research CUTTING EDGE

Tide lines show Moon's move