Welcome

Get to know a different side of the Milky Way this winter

December night skies are long and dark – the ideal conditions for amateur astronomy. Orion’s commanding presence is visible from early evenings as the constellation rises, and in this month’s Sky Guide, you’ll find Steve Tonkin’s binocular tour of the Hunter and some intriguing sights within. Many will know of Orion’s Belt, now it might be time to discover Orion’s Pelt too.

Passing by Orion’s left shoulder you’ll find the Milky Way, the location of Stuart Atkinson’s midwinter tour. Here you’ll discover a different side to our Galaxy, not the gaseous nebulae of summer skies – we look out on a different part of the Milky Way in winter – but a host of sparkling star clusters that are a beautiful sight in binoculars and small telescopes. Wrap up warm and go out to find them on the next clear, frosty night – we couldn’t help but include the Christmas Tree Cluster at this time of year.

Speaking of Christmas trees, if you’re searching for astronomy-related gifts to put under yours, take a look at the Reviews section. Here we look at an affordable, entry-level telescope and a pair of binoculars, and you’ll find more ideas in our Gear roundup here.

But if the clouds do roll in, or you just fancy keeping warm indoors, we have you covered. Ian Ridpath delves into the history of celestial cartography here, investigating the origin of the constellation of Canes Venatici, while Govert Schilling looks at the NASA mission launching soon which will strengthen Earth’s defences against asteroid impact: DART is on a collision course with a small space rock to test whether its orbit will be deflected by the impact.

Enjoy the issue!

Chris Bramley, Editor

PS Our next issue goes on sale on Thursday 16 December.