Features

Five stars that could go bang

Here’s a rundown of some famous stars with explosive potential.

Web Extra: What about Eta Carinae?

One of our galaxy’s most massive stars — Eta Carinae — could explode relatively soon. But this distant behemoth remains shrouded in mystery, and astronomers don’t really know when it might go off.

How Gaia will map a billion stars

This European spacecraft is making the most detailed 3-D map of our galaxy.

Web Extra: Inside Gaia’s one billion pixel camera

The European Space Agency is using the most powerful camera ever flown in space to create a precise 3-D map of the Milky Way.

Exoplanet systems illustrated

Scientists have found more than 1,800 exoplanets orbiting 1,100 stars. Here are the strangest — and the most common.

The golden age of radio astronomy

Antony Hewish never intended to become an astronomer. But secrets of the hidden universe he and his colleagues stumbled upon ended up earning astronomy its first Nobel Prize.

Web Extra: Exploring the pulsar zoo

The objects Antony Hewish and Jocelyn Bell discovered in the late 1960s are even more bizarre than they originally imagined.

Target winter’s best open clusters

These 25 celestial treats will have you seeing stars — in a good way!

Chile: Visiting the astronomer’s paradise

This tour to the Atacama Desert showcased professional observatories and the finest skies on Earth.

Web Extra: Exploring Chile’s great observatories

Astronomy readers had the chance to visit the Very Large Telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, the Blanco Telescope, and more great instruments on a fantastic trip.

Astronomy tests Celestron’s NexStar Evolution

This setup is as close to “grab-and-go” astronomy as an 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope can be.

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