BBC Sky at Night Magazine - June 2023

In this issue

The first women of space
The story of trailblazers Valentina Tereshkova and Sally Ride.

Noctilucent clouds on the rise.
Why the beautiful, rare night clouds are now more common..

The brightest radiation flash on record

Gamma-ray burst declared a 1-in-10,000-year event

2 mins

One step forward for Artemis...

The Moon mission’s latest triumph has been followed by a potential new setback

2 mins

Black hole jet origin seen for first time

New observations hint at causes of powerful jets

1 min

JUICE begins its journey

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) from the European Space Agency is on its way, following a successful launch at 12:14 UTC on 14 April from French Guiana.

1 min

Dark skies champion Bob Mizon passes away

Dark-sky campaigner Bob Mizon, who spent many years fighting to protect the night from light pollution, passed away on 19 April.

1 min

Double quasar shines brightly

The pair are close to merging into a single giant black hole

1 min

Super-Earths wreak havoc

Simulations show the common planet type would cause chaos in our Solar System

2 mins

Sneezes and wheezes of the Butterfly

New imagery shows the nebula puffing 'like a fire-breathing dragon'

2 mins

INSIDE THE SKY AT NIGHT

On last month's episode of The Sky at Night, Mary McIntyre explained how basic home CCTV cameras can play a big part in meteor science

3 mins

Fighting for the dark side

Battles over a neighbour's floodlight led Stephen Kirkman to propose a new law

2 mins

Our DISAPPEARING dark skies

Shaoni Bhattacharya looks at what is - and isn't - being done to help ensure everyone can see the stars

7 mins

The FIRST WOMEN of space

Ezzy Pearson reveals how Valentina Tereshkova and Sally Ride blazed the trail for womankind

9 mins

What happened BEFORE the Big Bang?

Govert Schilling answers your questions on cosmology’s most confusing concepts

3 mins

Noctilucent clouds on the rise

Night-shining clouds have fascinated skywatchers for almost 140 years. Rob Banino finds out what they tell us about our changing atmosphere

8 mins

Who invented the southern constellations?

Ian Ridpath uncovers how it took 150 years of exploration to fill the skies of the Southern Hemisphere with 26 new constellations.

8 mins

Solstices and equinoxes

Katrin Raynor explains how we get our seasons from Earth's orbit around the Sun

3 mins

Build your own EQ camera mount

This month's project is a manual equatorial mount that is enjoyable to use and helps to develop your knowledge of the night sky.

3 mins

Record the motion of NLCs

Capture the movement, structure and colours of summer's night-shining clouds

3 mins

Fuss-free tools to process your DSLR astro images

Using freeware to stack, extract the background, calibrate colour and more

3 mins

Unistellar eVscope eQuinox 2

Powerful, light pollution-busting smart scope for painless one-click imaging

3 mins

QHYCCD QHY5111462C colour camera

Impressively premium sensor sophistication in a pocket-sized package

3 mins

Q&A WITH A GALAXY HUNTER

Researchers have been shocked to discover 'Universe breakers' in JWST images, massive galaxies that existed way before current theories predicted

3 mins

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BBC Sky at Night Magazine Description:

Complementing the much-loved BBC television programme, Sky at Night Magazine is your practical guide to astronomy. Each issue features columns by renowned experts such as Sir Patrick Moore as well as in-depth cosmological features, practical observing tutorials, comprehensive equipment reviews, astrophotography master classes and much, much more. And with easy-to follow star charts and expert advice on how to get the most out of the observing month, Sky at Night Magazine is essential reading for both the novice and experienced astronomer.