Astronomy March 2014

Skyjacked! NASA's audacious plan to tow an asteroid to Earth
by Ray Villard
Mankind's next great leap into the cosmos may involve small steps on an asteroid captured and brought into lunar orbit.

The weird world of Phoebe
by Michael Carroll
Scientists are finding that Saturn's strange moon isn't like the other satellites in the solar system.

Exploring the biggest asteroids
by Sarah Scoles
The Dawn spacecraft, once orbiting Vesta, is now headed toward Ceres. These two huge asteroids may represent the missing links between space pebbles and habitable planets.

Comet ISON's final hurrah
by Richard Talcott
Although this visitor from the distant Oort Cloud did not survive its late-November brush with the Sun, it provided observers with a memorable show in the weeks before.

How I made my dream observatory
by Bert Probst
The way this observer housed his telescope may give you some tips you can apply to your own project.

Run a globular cluster marathon
by Tom Polakis
How many globulars can you see in a single night? Our intrepid writer put himself to the test.

Sketch the Messier objects in one night
by Erika Rix
If you're looking for a new observing challenge, try capturing all 109 objects in Messier's catalog on paper.

Explore the Virgo cluster through binoculars
by Phil Harrington
Set a goal this spring: 14 galaxies in 2014.