Could We Find Aliens by Looking for Their Solar Panels?- Designed to reflect ultraviolet and infrared, the panels have a unique fingerprint

Researchers searching for life beyond Earth spend a lot of time thinking about what telltale signs might be detectable astronomically. Forms of unambiguous evidence for the presence of life on another world are known as biosignatures. By extension, techno signatures are indicators of activity by intelligent, civilisation-building life.

Antimatter- In our continuing series, Govert Schilling looks at antimatter, the strange counterpart to most of the matter filling our Universe

Particles and corresponding antiparticles are very much alike, except they have opposite electrical charges. For instance, the antiparticle of the electron - known as the positron - has the same tiny mass, but while electrons carry a negative electrical charge, positrons are positively charged.

Where Have All The Milky Way's Early Stars Gone?- Our Galaxy has a curious lack of pristine stars

The Big Bang produced a Universe filled almost exclusively with hydrogen and helium; all other elements - what astronomers call metals - were produced by stars, supernovae and everything that happens later. So if you can pick out a pristine star with no metals polluting it from among the billions in the Milky Way, then you are likely to have a star dating from our Galaxy's earliest days.

Inside The Sky At Night - Two years ago, exoplanet scientist Hannah Wakeford received some of the first data from the JWST

Two years ago, exoplanet scientist Hannah Wakeford received some of the first data from the JWST. In July's Sky at Night, we discovered what she's learned since then.

How to stack DSLR data in Siril

Easily combine multiple frames to boost detailin your astro photos

Lunar occultation of Saturn

You'll need to strike a balance on 21 August to capture the Moon covering the ringed planet

How to plot a variable star light curve

A rewarding project to chart stars that change brightness

Smartphone photography with a telescope

Mary Mcintyre explains how to get impressive night-sky images using your phone

Once-a-century solar storm is overdue

If a Carrington Event struck today it would be catastrophic, says Minna Palmroth

The new era of human spaceflight

There's been a step-change in crewed space missions since the dawn of the 21st century. Ben Evans charts its course and looks ahead to future horizons

Has Webb broken cosmology?

Caroline Harper

Shooting the dark Universe with THE WORLD'S BIGGEST CAMERA

Janie Carter reports _ from the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile, where the largest camera ever built will soon start shooting the ultimate space movie: an ultra-wide, ultrahigh-definition record of the southern sky

Flying over TITAN

Ezzy Pearson reports on NASA's Dragonfly, the first-ever science mission to fly on another world, which is set to soar over Saturn's largest moon in search of the elements of life

Unearthing galaxies in the archives

Comparing old Hubble data to today is revealing distant active galaxies

Voyager 1 is back online and exploring the unknown

An interstellar rescue brings the venerable spacecraft back after months out of action

When Haydn met the Herschels

Jonathan Powell on how the astronomer siblings inspired the famous composer

A quicker way to colourise your narrowband frames

Create a bicolour image in Siril using data from just two narrowband filters

Manhattanhenge

New York's urban island of Manhattan, with its gridiron street layout, sees summer Suns set neatly between skyscrapers. Jamie Carter explains the phenomenon

A very British eclipse

In 1927, Britain experienced its first total solar eclipse since 1724. Mike Frost looks at how, like 8 April 2024's US spectacle, eclipse fever swept the nation

The spirit of the eclipse

Eclipse chaser Yvette Cook reports on what it was like in the path of totality in Texas during 8 April's Great American Eclipse

Cosmic rays

In part two of our series, Govert Schilling looks at cosmic rays, the high-energy particles that bombard Earth from space

Stones of the SOLSTICE

Jamie Carter explores 12 ancient stones, tombs and temples across the world that align with the Sun at the solstice

Surfing spacetime with LISA

A new era of gravitational wave astronomy is on its way as the ambitious upcoming LISA space mission joins a host of huge detectors on Earth. Charlie Hoy explains

Water, Water, Everywhere?

Penny Wozniakiewicz investigates why astronomers are so concerned with finding water in the Solar System, and why it is vital to our exploration of space

O&A WITH AN ECLIPSE CHASER

On 14 October 2023, an annular eclipse passed across mainland USA. Comedian and stargazer Jon Culshaw was there to witness it

Bresser ISA Space Exploration NASA 70/700 AZ telescope

This beginners' package has everything you need to see the Sun, Moon and planets

Ursa Major 6-inch f/8 Planetary Dobsonian

A decent option for would-be planetary observers on a limited budget

Use freeware to create star trail images

How to turn your frames into beautiful star trail photos in a few clicks

Venus's hostile atmosphere

Katrin Raynor takes a look at a planet where the skies boil and the clouds rain acid

Build your EYEPIECE COLLECTION

Great eyepieces are crucial to any astronomical setup. Here Tim Jardine arms you with the info you need to choose the best ones to invest in