Current Issue: March/April 2021

In our March/April issue, we'll tune into some astronomy-related songs, offer tips for spring skywatching, highlight the latest astronomy news, and more.

Merlin

Merlin explains why distant galaxies are all moving away from us (and from each other) and how high the Moon can appear in the sky, and some of his friends offer an activity that explains the retrograde motion of the planets.

Pose your own questions for future issues.

Sky Highlights

Although planet watching is limited in March and April, the warmer nights of spring bring a panoply of new stars and constellations to view. Leo is in good view at nightfall, climbing straight up from the eastern horizon in early March and standing high in the south on April evenings. Virgo follows a couple of hours later. Boötes, the herdsman, is close to the maiden, marked by yellow-orange Arcturus, one of the brightest stars in the night sky.

AstroNews

The Hayabusa2 sample capsule leaves a fiery trail as it approaches Australia. While one asteroid explorer brings samples to Earth, a second prepares for its own return; back-and-forth findings about the possibility of life in the clouds of Venus; the death of a planet; the recipe for super-Earths, and more.

AstroMiscellany

‘Selling’ the Space Age through beautiful artwork is the focus of a new book, NASA offers several space-themed coloring books to help keep young artists entertained, and a new simulation shows the view of the universe from close to a black hole.

Download a sample issue (PDF)

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