CONTENTS
= on the cover C
:
I T E R
J U P
,
N A S A /J P LC A LT E C H/S E T I I N S T I T U T E
:
E U R O PA
,
R A E
L A R R Y N
:
PA G E
I S
T H
T I .
F E LT Ó
& P É T E R
T H
T Ó
B E N C E
:
I M A G E
C O V E R
E S A /
,
E S A
,
I O
T O S T U D
@ T H E S H E D _ P H O
,
J H A
.
E S A /H U B B L E & N A S A /S
,
N A S A /J P LC A LT E C H E
:
C L I P P E R
,
I S T O C K /G E T T Y
I E P R O/
S C
& E S A
S O H O/ N A S A
I T Y ) ,
I V E R S
U N
I F F
( C A R D
E S S O N
W
.
I S T ) R
( A C R
C O X
.
( U C L ) N
B A R L O W
.
E B B/ N A S A /C S A /M
W
Features
26 Astronomy photographer
C
of the year 2024
Feast your eyes as we reveal this year’s stunning winning images
34 Europa Clipper: searching
C
for life at Jupiter’s icy moon
Read about the new frontier in the hunt for life: Europa’s buried ocean
40 Particle physics 101
Dark matter, the mysterious stuff holding the Universe together
60 Maggie’s top 10 JWST images
C
The Sky at Night presenter picks her incredible Webb favourites
66 Crash scene investigator
C
Hera, the mission to help stop asteroids before they hit us
Regulars 6 Eye on the sky 10 Bulletin 14 Cutting edge 16 Inside The Sky at Night 19 Interactive 23 Field of view 24 Subscribe to BBC Sky
C
at Night Magazine 72 Explainer 74 Skills for stargazers: How to use setting circles 98 Q&A: a lunar cave explorer
Astrophotography 76 Capture 78 Processing 80 Gallery
4 BBC Sk y at Night Magazine October 2024
26
Reviews 86 Altair Starwave Ascent
C
70ED bundle 90 ZWO AM5N harmonic drive mount and TC40 tripod 95 Gear 96 Books
C
16 -PAGE CENTRE PULLOUT
C
The Sky Guide 44 Highlights 46 The big three 48 The planets 50 October’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 October at a glance