Stars, constellations, clusters, nebulae and galaxies beyond our Solar System.
The bright landmark of Virgo is two hot stars completing an orbit in about four days. Their mutual gravity changes their shapes, and a small reflected-light signal offers another way to study the pair.
3 Nov 2026 · 5 min read
The Giraffe has few bright naked-eye landmarks, but binoculars uncover a striking chain of stars. A compact cluster, a spiral galaxy and the remnants of a stellar eruption add different physical stories behind the apparent pattern.
3 Nov 2026 · 5 min read
The pale band across a dark sky is part of the galaxy we live in. Its dark patches are often clouds hiding background starlight, and those same clouds can become bright subjects for infrared telescopes.
3 Nov 2026 · 5 min read
The Little Horse holds a rapidly oscillating magnetic star and a binary system whose orbit helps measure stellar masses.
3 Nov 2026 · 4 min read
The brilliant star below Orion is easy to notice. Separating its faint companion is much harder, and that contrast tells two very different stellar stories.
2 Nov 2026 · 4 min read
The small Arrow holds a binocular cluster and a massive star shedding material. WR 124 links a short stellar phase with a question about the dust available to future worlds.
2 Nov 2026 · 4 min read
A spiral galaxy and its elongated neighbour share a view near the Great Bear. Their connection reaches beyond appearance: gravity, newborn stars and powerful gas flows.
2 Nov 2026 · 5 min read
The faint Fox holds the Dumbbell Nebula and the sky direction of a landmark radio discovery. The first pulsar emerged from an odd trace, a faster recorder and careful checks.
2 Nov 2026 · 4 min read
A bright point at Orion’s foot is an enormous hot star. Its light also reveals interstellar dust nearby, while small changes measured over time offer clues about the star’s interior and escaping gas.
2 Nov 2026 · 5 min read
A temporary brightening in the Dolphin supplied a chemical clue: radioactive material that becomes lithium. The story connects a small constellation with the wider history of elements.
1 Nov 2026 · 4 min read
The small ring in Lyra is a view into a three-dimensional cloud. Images, infrared observations and spectra reveal gas through its apparently open centre and structures whose origins are still being investigated.
1 Nov 2026 · 5 min read
Altair gives the Eagle an easy starting point, but its fainter outline takes a more careful look. The same direction contains dust clouds that block background starlight and hold material for new stars.
1 Nov 2026 · 4 min read
The bright point beneath Leo's curved head is not a neat stellar sphere. Measurements reveal a swollen equator, unequal surface temperatures and a faint companion connected with its history.
1 Nov 2026 · 5 min read
Vega is the easy landmark, but the small constellation around it holds a multiple-star system and the remains of a star. Different observing tools reveal different parts of the story.
1 Nov 2026 · 5 min read
The old star cluster in Serpens contains rapidly rotating neutron-star remnants. Optical images and patient radio measurements reveal different parts of a much longer stellar story.
31 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
A cross-shaped pattern gives you an entrance to a crowded part of the Milky Way. Following the Swan introduces a colourful stellar pair, clouds where stars form and the remains of a stellar explosion.
31 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
A nearby winter landmark contains a bright subgiant and a faint white dwarf. The smaller star used to be the more massive one, making the pair a useful test of how stars change.
31 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
A northern sky region contains a real stellar family and a galaxy whose jet once made it seem like a variable star. Start with the neighbouring constellations, then discover what the light reveals.
31 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
The Beehive’s broad patch resolves into individual stars through binoculars. Precise measurements add another layer: planets revealed by the motion of their host stars.
31 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
The Unicorn constellation contains stars still forming in the Rosette cloud and a distant star whose flash made surrounding dust visible in changing photographs.
30 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
Gemini’s two bright heads look paired, but Pollux and Castor have different distances and histories. Pollux is an evolved giant whose changing light also carries evidence of an unseen planet.
30 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
A long celestial river leads from a rapidly spinning star to galaxies whose structures help explain the movement of gas and the birth of new stars.
30 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
Below Orion, the Hare leads to an old star cluster, gas expelled by an aging star and a companion whose hidden double nature changed its interpretation.
30 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
The apparently steady northern landmark changes in brightness and size. Its companions and surface features turn a familiar navigation star into a test of how stars evolve.
30 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
Procyon makes the Little Dog easy to begin with. Nearby on the sky, Gomeisa offers a different stellar story: rapid rotation, material outside the star and delicate measurements of its light.
29 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
M35 is a young group of stars in Gemini. Its compact-looking neighbour, NGC 2158, adds a second story to the same view: greater distance and a much older population.
29 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Sirius makes the Great Dog easy to begin recognising. The surrounding region connects a nearby stellar pair, groups born together and a much less conspicuous star shedding enormous amounts of material.
29 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
The faintest corner of the Summer Triangle is an enormous star. Deneb connects a simple naked-eye landmark with a difficult question about how massive stars change late in their lives.
29 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
Castor and Pollux mark the Twins on a chart, but they do not share one physical system. Their contrast leads from easy winter landmarks to hidden stellar pairs and a cluster whose stars really did form together.
28 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
The faint patch in Andromeda contains a spiral galaxy, but its familiar stellar light shows only part of the system. An enormous gas envelope is studied through the light of even more distant objects.
28 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Capella makes Auriga easy to start, while binoculars open a richer field of star clusters. The same sky region holds a star thought to have escaped from Orion and illuminated the cloud it now crosses.
28 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
The whiter head of Gemini is a hierarchy of three stellar pairs. Some members move around companions in days, while the bright visual pair follows an orbit lasting centuries.
28 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
Aldebaran looks like a member of the Bull’s V-shaped face, but it is a foreground star. Two familiar clusters and their surrounding dust show why the sky’s apparent groupings need a closer look.
27 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
The hazy cluster in Canes Venatici contains a large population of stars that change brightness. Measurements across their cycles make those variations useful for studying stellar behaviour and the cluster’s distance.
27 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Capricornus combines faint evening stars with a nearby-looking but distant cluster. A separate system in its direction shows why measuring motion and understanding its geometry are different steps.
27 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Two giant stars dominate the familiar bright point in Auriga. Their orbit and different stages of evolution turn a naked-eye landmark into a useful test of how stars change.
27 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Aquarius contains dense groups of stars and clouds expelled by stars nearing the end of their lives. The Helix and Saturn nebulae turn this sky region into a place to explore a possible distant future for our Sun.
27 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
A small telescope reveals a two-lobed cloud in Vulpecula. Close-up and infrared observations show a more complicated story: a star’s lost material is being reshaped, illuminated and gradually returned to the space between stars.
26 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Cetus contains Mira, a star whose brightness changes over months, and the active spiral galaxy M77. Ultraviolet observations revealed a long trail of material behind Mira, showing how a familiar stellar point can hold a much larger story.
26 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
The orange-red shoulder of Orion changes for more than one reason. Its dramatic fading exposed dust forming near the star, while newer observations suggest a faint companion disturbs its extended atmosphere.
26 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Pisces links familiar sky geometry with an archival puzzle. A faint stellar remnant’s recorded light became evidence to reconsider long after the glass plate was made.
26 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
The dense cluster in Pegasus contains a rare planetary nebula. Its gas, central remnant and old stellar environment offer complementary clues to one star’s evolution.
26 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Aries holds a bright stellar landmark and a distant spiral with an uneven shape. Hamal reveals an orbiting planet through small changes in its light; NGC 772 shows how a neighbouring galaxy can alter an entire spiral arm.
25 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
A bright point with a warm colour belongs to a star that has expanded beyond the Sun’s present stage. Its apparent simplicity hides a much larger atmosphere.
25 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
The northern triangle points toward a neighbouring galaxy where young stars are changing the clouds around them.
25 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
A hazy patch becomes a crowded ball of stars under closer observation. Measurements of individual giants reveal that this ancient stellar group contains more chemical variety than its smooth outline suggests.
25 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Many observers recognise Cepheus as a simple house near the North Star. Its famous variable, Delta Cephei, connects a change you can follow across several nights with the measurement of much larger distances.
25 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
The bright red heart of the Scorpion hides an extended, moving atmosphere. Maps of its light reveal gas motions and long-lived surface structures that help explain how massive stars lose material.
24 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
Pegasus is easy to approach through four stars forming a large square. The same sky region leads toward a dense star cluster, a distant galaxy and the Sun-like star whose unexpected planet helped transform astronomy.
24 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
The broad V in Taurus is the bright part of a physical stellar group. Former members extend much farther through the galaxy, leaving clues to the cluster’s history and the gravitational forces around it.
24 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Perseus offers several ways to read a star field: a bright landmark with a surrounding cluster, two young groups that may share a birthplace and a star system whose eclipses change the light we receive.
24 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
One familiar point in the Summer Triangle hides a flattened stellar surface. Combining light from separated telescopes lets astronomers measure a shape your eyes cannot resolve.
24 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
Andromeda is a region of sky with recognisable stellar landmarks, not another name for one enormous object. Its stars help you navigate toward both a nearby stellar remnant and a separate galaxy.
23 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Three open clusters brighten the winter sky around Auriga. Their different appearances and stellar populations make them useful places to notice how stars change over time.
23 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
Five stars give you an easy pattern to learn. The wider constellation also contains clouds of gas and dust that look very different in infrared light.
22 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
The bright eye of Taurus seems to belong to the surrounding V-shaped cluster. Its nearer position reveals the depth hidden in that sky drawing, while measured stellar changes pose another problem of interpretation.
22 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
A fuzzy patch in Orion’s Sword is the nearest region where massive stars are forming. Binoculars reveal a glowing cloud; a telescope shows the bright stars shaping it.
18 Oct 2026 · 6 min read
The seven stars everyone knows are only the tail and hindquarters of a much bigger animal. Meet the whole bear.
18 Oct 2026 · 6 min read
A hunter drawn in stars of wildly different ages and distances, anchored by a Belt so straight it doubles as a signpost to the rest of the winter sky.
16 Oct 2026 · 6 min read