BBC Sky at Night

Sky at Night magazine is your practical guide to astronomy. Each issue features the world’s biggest and best night sky guide complete with star charts, observing tutorials and in-depth equipment reviews to ensure that amateur astronomers never miss those must-see events.

Welcome • Clues to life are surfacing surprisingly close to home

Sky at Night – lots of ways to enjoy the night sky…

This month's contributors

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POWERFUL PLUMAGE • Blue plumes show a galaxy being stripped by ‘empty’ space

Space telescopes under threat • Projected 560,000 satellites could overwhelm future observatories

Asteroid provides sweet clues to life's origins • Ribose and glucose detected in pristine dust samples from the asteroid Bennu

Is Russia out of the space race? • Damage to Russia's only crew launch pad throws its space programme into doubt

Dark matter ‘seen’ for the first time? • University of Tokyo team reports possible direct observation of dark matter in Fermi data

Extreme space weather grounds planes • Airbus orders urgent software update after solar radiation risk identified

Monster stars found in the early Universe • JWST data reveals ultramassive stars from the cosmic dawn, solving a 20-year mystery

Sparks fly in Mars's atmosphere • Perseverance detects first-ever electrical crackles from a dust devil

Could fungi protect astronauts from radiation? • Radiation-eating fungus might form a living shield for future Mars settlers

New images reveal active interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS • NASA and ESA capture gas, dust and a plasma tail ahead of the comet's closest Earth approach

The silent threat to Moon bases • Saving lunar settlers from rock strikes is all down to shielding and location

Variability spotted in little red dots • A new image sees the same dot across a century… and it had changed

INSIDE THE SKY AT NIGHT • We've now found thousands of exoplanets, yet the first exomoon still eludes us. George Dransfield tells us why the hunt is tough, but a breakthrough may be close

Start the Week

Shoot for the Moon

BBC Sky at Night

SOCIETY IN FOCUS

Stars above… sparks below • Whether it's drama in your astro club or tensions with your family, Mark Westmoquette shares advice to keep stargazing stress-free

The science of sci-fi spaceships • From Jules Verne to Avatar, Dallas Campbell traces how fiction shaped our dreams of space travel – and even drove real advances in rocket science

Science alone can't save a bad script • A compelling plot beats physics every time in great science fiction

Aliens on our doorstep • Could life be closer than we think? Ben Evans surveys the Solar System's likeliest hideouts – and what might live there

The missions closing in on alien life • Rovers, orbiters and drones are heading for the Solar System's most promising habitats

What would proof of aliens look like? • Biosignatures are just the first clue. Here's how scientists decide if life signs are real

Why our Sun doesn't have a twin • Most Sun-like stars orbit a partner, but ours ended up alone. We explain how – and why its lonely path set the stage for life

The red dwarf dilemma • Why we think the Universe's most common stars often live solitary lives

The Sky Guide • FEBRUARY 2026

FEBRUARY HIGHLIGHTS • Your guide to the night sky this month

NEED TO KNOW • The terms and symbols used in The Sky Guide

THE BIG THREE • The top sights to observe or image this month

THE PLANETS • Our celestial neighbourhood in February

The planets in February • The phase and relative sizes of the planets...