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CONTENTS
= on the cover C
Features
@ T H E S H E D _
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L AW R E N C E
P E T E
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I M A G E S
I S T O C K /G E T T Y
O V E R S N A P/
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PA G E
I S
T H
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G A R L I C K
M A R K
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I M A G E
C O V E R
I M A G E S/J A X A /
I S T O C K /G E T T Y
C O B A LT 8 8/
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L I B R A R Y/A L A M Y
T O
P H O
I E N C E
G A R L I C K /S C
M A R K
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I O
T O S T U D
P H O
I M A G E S
I S T O C K /G E T T Y
WA C K E R H A U S E N /
J A C O B
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I Z O N A
O F A R
I T Y
I V E R S
N A S A /J P LC A LT E C H/U N
28 The planets return
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They’re back! All the planetary events you won’t want to miss
34 Season of the supermoon
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Everything you ever wanted to know about our Moon
40 Particle physics 101
Supersymmetry – what is it and does it solve everything?
60 10 strangest things in our Solar System
Weird and wonderful phenomena on our cosmic doorstep
66 Bringing back pieces of a Mars moon
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Read how Japan aims to land on and sample the moon Phobos
Regulars 6 Eye on the sky 10 Bulletin 16 Cutting edge 18 Inside The Sky at Night 20 Interactive 25 Field of view 26 Subscribe to BBC Sky
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at Night Magazine 72 Explainer 74 Skills for stargazers: How to
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‘discover’ a comet or asteroid 98 Q&A: a black hole detective
Astrophotography 76 Capture 78 Processing 80 Gallery
Reviews 86 Ursa Major multicoated flatfield eyepieces 90 Vaonis Hestia smartphone-
based telescope 95 Gear 96 Books
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16 -PAGE CENTRE PULLOUT
The Sky Guide 44 Highlights 46 The big three 48 The planets 50 September’s all-sky chart 52 Moonwatch 53 Comets and asteroids 53 Star of the month 54 Binocular tour 55 The Sky Guide challenge 56 Deep-sky tour 58 September at a glance
4 BBC Sk y at Night Magazine September 2024