Deep space
New survey frames show pillars of gas being eaten away by the same young stars they helped create.
Sky desk · Issue 04
A night sky without streetlights still surprises the people under it
In Snowdonia the Milky Way is bright enough to cast a shadow, and astronomers are trying to keep it that way.
Top stories
Issue 04
Planets
Cassini's long stare at the planet produced a timeline that keeps compressing as the data is reworked.
Sky
Two nights with identical numbers can produce one great display and one empty sky, and physicists can explain why.
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Updated weeklyMoon
Sky
Deep space
Photo essay
Long exposures, honest colours
Astrophotography is a negotiation with time. These frames are stacked from minutes of exposure and then checked against catalogue values, so the picture is an argument about the object rather than a mood.
Full moon rising behind the Chasseral ridge, Switzerland.
Editor's note
“Every photograph in this issue is a decision about what to leave out. We publish the exposure time and the filter with the picture, because the sky does not come with a caption.”
Elena Petrova · Editor, Orbit
The Orbit dispatch
One story, one photograph, and one thing worth knowing. Sent on Thursdays.
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