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FREE INSIDE: 
Focus: National Astronomy Week Stargazing Guide 
As National Astronomy Week, or NAW - Saturday 1 March through to the following Saturday - fast approaches, David Arditti presents a night-by-night guide for beginning sky-watchers for the eight days of NAW. 
The focus of NAW 2014 is on Jupiter, at its highest now in British skies for 12 years and dominating the evening sky to the south. Yet there is so much more to see. If you are a beginning observer equipped with only your eyes, or with binoculars or a basic small telescope. 
Our guide will show how to find all the most important objects in the sky in National Astronomy Week, in a course of bite-size chunks lasting eight nights. Features 
An exploding star in a nearby galaxy was spotted by an astronomer and students at University College London, going on to make global news headlines. Mark Armstrong describes the story of the supernova in the Cigar Galaxy. 
The first total solar eclipse visible in Northern Europe since 11 August 1999 will see many regular eclipse chasers and first-timers heading for the Arctic in March 2015. A year ahead, John Mason reveals what can be expected. 
As The Sky at Night returns to television screens, Keith Cooper spoke to the man at the helm to find out what the programme has to offer in its new guise. 
For the deep sky veteran, Halton Arp's twisted and tortured interacting galaxies are some of the most fun galaxies to seek out. In memory of the late astronomer, Mark Armstrong turns his telescope towards ten of the best Arp galaxies in spring skies. 
Allan Chapman tells the story of John Wilkins, a seventeenth century inventor, astronomer, 'futurist' and science communicator who promoted the new science of Copernicus to the English public and imagined the possibilities of powered flight to the Moon over 300 years before Apollo. 
The CPRE's annual star count returns for National Astronomy Week and Keith Cooper discovers what story it tells about light pollution. 
Neil English pays tribute to John Dobson, inventor of the Dobsonian telescope and master of 'sidewalk astronomy', who passed away this January aged 98. 
Regulars 
The planet extravaganza continues with Jupiter still bright, Saturn and Mars mere months from opposition and Venus and Mercury continuing to lurk close to the Sun. 
A perfect spiral climbs high in the sky in the Great Bear as we turn our attention to the magnificent Messier 81. 
The best telescopic views are dependent upon achieving the best focus, otherwise size of aperture and quality of glass are wasted. Steve Ringwood sets out to find some focus. 
Celestron have entered the CCD fray with a new range of astronomical mono and one-shot colour cameras. Damian Peach puts the mono-versions of the new Skyris CCDs to the test under the night sky. BUY ONLINE Free First Class delivery in the UK! DOWNLOAD The iPad and iPhone edition |
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