February 2024 – Astronomy Now

Explore Puppis’ Messier cluster trio

26 February 2024 Mark Armstrong

Puppis is rich in open clusters, including the Messier trio of M46, M47 and M93.

Commercial lunar lander returns America to the Moon

22 February 2024 Astronomy Now

A lander built by the Houston-based company Intuitive Machines touched down near the Moon’s South Pole on Thursday. It was the first lunar landing by a US spacecraft in more than 50 years and the first commercially-operated vehicle to successfully reach the surface.

Celestron RASA 8 astrograph: fast imaging with the RASA 8

22 February 2024 Astronomy Now

Olly Penrice has spent over a year imaging with a Celestron Rowe–Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph (RASA) and finds that, with some fiddling required, it excels at capturing high-quality data of deep-sky objects.

Moon close to the Pleiades

14 February 2024 Mark Armstrong

It’s always a prime observing event when the Moon pays a visit to the magnificent Pleiades open cluster (M45).

A rare triple active galactic nucleus

14 February 2024 Astronomy Now

This cosmic collision is a coming together of two large spiral galaxies, but if you look carefully you might see two smaller galaxies that are also involved.

Valleys on the Moon

13 February 2024 Mark Armstrong

With a waxing Moon riding high in the early-evening sky, now is a good time to become acquainted with four of the best valleys on the lunar surface.

Get a buzz from the Beehive

9 February 2024 Mark Armstrong

Messier 44 in Cancer is a marvellous open cluster that’s a great sight through a modest pair of binoculars.