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Your Guide to the Universe

StarDate magazine keeps you in touch with the universe with detailed skywatching information, in-depth features, the latest astronomy news, and more. Six issues per year, including the Sky Almanac issue in January! Subscribe today!

Current Issue: May/June 2022

First feature,May/June 2022

Digging the Sky
Astronomers sift through the galactic ‘fossils’ of ancient stars to probe the history of the Milky Way.

Second feature, May/June 2022

Catching the Uncatchable
Cosmic rays can tell us about exploding stars, black holes, and other exotic objects, yet they almost never reach Earth’s surface. But scientists have developed some tricks for studying these elusive particles from beyond the solar system.

Merlin

Merlin answers questions about an oddity associated with the solstices and an in-and-out dash by the solar system’s largest planet.

Pose your own questions for future issues.

Sky Highlights

Four of the five planets visible to the unaided eye continue to congregate in early morning sky, with the fifth briefly joining them at the end of June. The last vestiges of the winter sky disappear in the west, while the stars of summer begin their annual ascent.

Miscellany

A good lunar eclipse, rolling with a Mars rover, and a book that questions everything.

AstroNews

An artist’s concept shows a ‘rogue’ planet floating through its stellar nursery. [NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva]

* NASA awards seed money to study innovative ideas in space exploration, including a mission to capture samples from the clouds of Venus, one to protect Earth from cosmic impacts, and one to shield Mars-bound astronauts from cosmic radiation.

* A giant Sun-watching telescope gets to work.

* Supermassive black holes are headed for a giant collision.

* Geopolitics scuttles a trip to Mars.

In the Next Issue

We’ll join the search for the first stars in the universe, present details about the first and most recent Mars rovers from a beautiful new coffee-table book, and offer Merlin’s answers to your questions.

Download a sample issue (PDF)
 

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Cover of May/June 2022 issue of StarDate magazine