Recommended astronomy magazines?

ollie103

Hi all,

I'm note sure if Boards.ie permits me to ask for (or people to provide!) recommendations for astronomy magazines so pardon me if I've broken the 'rules'. Is Sky @ N**ht mag any good or is it too UK focused? It seems to be but is a bit pricy at over €7 per issue (I think - pls correct me). Any others out there worth considering for the Irish astronomer? I do subscribe to the magazine from AI but I don't think that this is worth it anymore so I'm looking to 'upgrade' if possible.

Cú Giobach

Hi ollie103,

Up until 3 years ago when I got the internet, I bought Sky & Telescope and Astronomy (both American) for many many years and for a lesser time Astronomy & Space and Sky @ Night.
Without doubt if you buy only one I would recommend Sky & Telescope, now that is only my own personal opinion but if I couldn't get my hands on a copy and had to rely only on the others I always felt I was missing out. I really feel it's the world's best astronomy magazine and was utterly invaluable in pre-internet days, only Astronomy came anywhere close.

I would rank them as follows.
#1 Sky & Telescope
#2 Astronomy
#3 Sky @ Night
#4 Astronomy and Space (only good for finding out about local club events, meetings etc).

PS. Don't worry about buying American magazines because they base around 40 deg N latitude and our 53 deg N isn't that much of a difference (you get used to it), just don't buy the Australian version.
Also, Easons sell them all (or at least they used to).
.

jfSDAS

hi ollie103,

I second Cú Giobach's recommendations but with a slight addition. "Astronomy Now" is also a UK-based publication and like all the others, it can be purchased from Easons countrywide or Reads on Nassau St in Dublin. "Astronomy Now" is probably ranked a little higher than "Sky at Night" as they have a bit more info in the articles -- I find "Sky at Night" is more bite-sized reading.

That said, each magazine is pitched differently and you'll soon find a favourite. "Sky and Telescope" have a top-class reputation and the articles are well written. It has a nice balance of observational astronomy and articles. "Astronomy" is at a more popular level and shouts "Wow!" from the pages at times which can be good.

There's now the possibility though to subscribe to an electronic edition of the US monthlies and this might be cheaper than buying a postal subscription. As Cú Giobach said, the internet supplies a lot of info and the various links in my monthly sky notes posts will have a lot of detail on what's up in the sky. I have to admit to only buying astronomy magazines now if there is an article of interest.

However, last year I acquired what is probably my best investment ever in the hobby. I purchased the DVD archives of "Sky & Telescope" and "Astronomy" magazines which cover from year of publication (1941 and 1973 respectively) almost to the present. I had print editions of every issue of "Astronomy" and from 1971 for "Sky & Telescope" (along with every issue since publication of "Astronomy Now") but these have been replaced by the DVDs -- the walls of the house were threatening to burst with the volume of printed material on the shelves!!! "Astronomy Now" don't have a DVD archive though.

If you know someone that can purchase them for you in the US, then I definitely would recommend acquiring the DVD sets (cost of shipping to here, along with the duty, is prohibitive).

"Sky and Telescope" can be bought at http://www.shopatsky.com/product/The-Complete-Sky-and-Telescope-Collection-I/magazine-back-issues (this is the link to the International edition, which is what you need), and elsewhere on their shop you'll see they've released separate DVDs with the 2010 and 2011 issues.

The "Astronomy" archive can be purchased at http://www.kalmbachstore.com/scale-modeling-special-interests-astronomy-astronomy-dvds.html

happy reading!

John

Cú Giobach

jfSDAS wrote: »

"Astronomy Now" is probably ranked a little higher than "Sky at Night" as they have a bit more info in the articles [......] the walls of the house were threatening to burst with the volume of printed material on the shelves!!!

I forgot about Astronomy Now woops, good call, totally agree with you there.

The years of collecting do fill quite a bit of space alright, and though I don't have the heart to dump them I've given quite a few to the waiting rooms of various places over the years, hopefully getting a few people interested in the hobby.

ollie103

Thanks lads - good recommendations there. I think that I'll try Astronomy Now and see how I get on; seems to be a bit more technical and informed than Sky at Night and I've found-out that I can get an annual subscription for £40 if i want to keep it on (as opposed to £69 for Sky At night - WTF!).

Thanks again.

jfSDAS

no problem to help out ... someone said to me before that it is cheaper buy Sky at Night from the newsagents here than it is to take out an annual subscription to post to Ireland!

I forgot to say too that it is worth checking out http://www.cloudynights.com for the various monthly observing articles (e.g., binocular observing with Phil Harrington and the Small Wonders column by Tom Trusock) -- the forums on the CN site are a mine of useful info on all aspects of the hobby (e.g., sometimes the editors of Sky & Telescope contribute to the Stellar Media forum).

John

JupiterKid

I personally would recommend Astronomy Now as it gives you the most "bang for your buck" - it always has good in-depth articles on a particular subject each month, has a good news updates section - and being UK based the sky charts are virtually the same for Ireland.

Also, Astronomy Now was the very first astronomy magazine I bought as a 17 year old just beginning to get into astronomy way back in 1992. :-).

Sky and Telescope and Astronomy are also good, but a little skimpier on the written articles compared to AN. They make up for that, however, by having very good observing guides and opinion pieces.