Which is the best Astronomy Magazine UK

[Lowen22]

Hi,

I'm after some advice here. I often go into WHSMITHS and purchase Astronomy Magazines every now and then.

At this stage i have no real loyalty to any particular magazine. Is there one which is regarded as the best for amateur astronomers?

I'm looking to start a subscription.

Thanks 

L

[TSRobot]

I like the Popular Astronomy magazine that comes with membership. It just has NO hype what so ever and is best for kids too.

[Lowen22]

Hi,

Thanks for this, I will take a look into it!

 

 

[ObscuredView]

On 26/06/2018 at 13:49, TSRobot said:

I like the Popular Astronomy magazine that comes with membership. It just has NO hype what so ever and is best for kids too.

cv5?

I am looking for the best UK astronomy mag.

 I notice your location is cv5,  where is that?

[jamesc96]

If you haven't tried the BBC sky at night magazine I think it's laid out very well and consistently has interesting articles that aren't too scientific. A great amateur mag altogether.

It also has a brilliant pull-out sky guide. 

Edited July 24, 2022 by jamesc96
Additional detail

[Andy ES]

On 26/06/2018 at 13:30, Lowen22 said:

I'm looking to start a subscription.

 

Readly is a good app which gives you access to literally hundreds of magazines.

it costs £7.99 per month and you can have I think about 4 people on the account for that price.

 

Edited July 24, 2022 by Andy ES

[jacko61]

I have a Sky at Night subscription but it expires next month and I think I'm going to let it lapse in favour of an Astronomy Now subscription. Because it's a BBC magazine I think the S&N content is aimed at a wider audience so sometimes the articles feel 'dumbed down' slightly. There usually seems to be more depth to the AN content.  Purely a personal opinion of course. 

Graeme

  

[michael8554]

I have "Astronomy Now" and the US "Sky & Telescope."

Although they try to cater to a range of abilities, in practice you should try them all and decide which one suits YOU.

Michael

[Carbon Brush]

As @michael8554 has said. Try a few then decide.
I gave up on s@n a long time ago because of the 'dumbing down'.

Sometimes in the SGL classifieds you will find someone offering their old mags for collection or postage cost.
A local club/society may have a magazine collection.
Both are good ways to sample and get a feel for the magazine long term performance.

 

[westmarch]

You do know that most UK libraries have these for free on their ebook app. Ours is called Libby. Use it before it gets cut.

John

Edited August 11, 2022 by westmarch

[HarryLP]

I started with S@N about two years ago and was able to renew my subscription for two years a few months ago for the price of one year (print only).  Just under a year ago I also took out a subscription to All About Space.

My opinion is that S@N is the better mag for the monthly what you can see this month pull out and observation articles. Whilst I am visual only I can see that S@N has good detailed astrophotography articles.

I take AAS because I like the cosmology and exploration articles, their monthly observation is not as detailed as S@N (in my opinion) but I like the bino and DSO target lists which S@N also do. I also enter AAS monthly competition .. has anybody ever won?

[Gfamily]

The best magazine is the one you read.

I have to say I fall down on that aspect with the magazines I get/used to get;  so I can't really make any comment on specifics.

I had an AN subscription for a couple of years (having won the first year in a raffle, I felt happy to pay for the second), and have had S&N on and off when they've had good price deals, but I rarely finish reading them each month.

As a member of the SPA, I get their magazine 6x per year, but it mostly goes unread. I keep up to date with astronomy via sites like this, and via Twitter. 

I do enjoy the monthly round up and binocular suggestions in S&N, and I think that's the one I'd recommend if pushed. 

Edited August 19, 2022 by Gfamily

[LukeSkywatcher]

When I did buy astro mags, I found Astronomy Now, the best. The Sky At Night has basically become an advert for buying astro gear.

[IB20]

I moved my subscription over from S@N to Astronomy Now. I find it’s less astrophotgraphy based and a bit more scientific which I prefer.

[DaveS]

I started out reading S @ N and AN, but found S@N too poor in science content so focused on AN. However in recent years I've found AN increasingly catering to those who just want to *look* through their telescopes (What a bizarre idea) rather than those who want to actually *image*.

The monthly sky guide has become a singularly egregious example of this, as once there was a "How to image it" section, at least for the object of the month, now there's merely a "how to observe it". 

You might guess that I'm almost 100% imager.

[dk101]

I agree with what others said - the best magazine is the one that suits your own preferences and the one you actually read. Personally I tried all that i could and i found that i prefer Sky & Telescope even though it is a bit US centric. I was really disappointed with Sky at Night and, while Astronomy Now was OK, but i found that i like S&T more. So now i read S&T and, of course, the British Astronomical Association's Journal which i really like. Personally, I would love a magazine with a lot more actual Astrophysics but sadly that doesn't exists, as far as i know. Good thing arXiv is there and it is free :D

As the old saying goes - Your Mileage May Vary - so get some trial issues, go to the local library or good news agent and have a look. What is "best" will really depend on you and  your interests.

[jjohnson3803]

I'm in the US, but I subscribed to S@N.  I think it's a very good magazine, but with COVID (I guess) and mailing delays, it always arrived several weeks late, so I dropped it.  I can usually find it at my local bookstore if I'm inclined to get a copy.

I've been impressed with AN, but I can also get that at the bookstore.  The SPA magazine does look interesting, but I'm not a member (yet).

 

 

 

 

[ollypenrice]

That's quite a question to ask on here because SGL has writers who write for either one or the other...  I'm an occasional writer for Astronomy Now so of course I'm not biased!  What I can say is that AN is a pleasure to write for. Many people believe that equipment reviews are little more than 'advertorial' material but I know for sure, since I've written equipment reviews for AN, that the magazine put me under no pressure whatever to modify my reports. If there is a selection pressure it may be this: a writer will be asked if he or she would like to review the new RubberWobble Mk 4 mount imported by Consistently Naff Imports and manufactured in La-La-Land. Given that writing such reports involves enormous disruption to the life of the observatory, the writer is likely to say, 'No thanks.' But offered a nice Takahashi refractor they are more than likely to say, 'Yes please.' That might be an explanation of why reviews seem generally favourable.

My SGL friend, whom I won't name because he can speak for himself, has said the same for Sky at Night, for which he writes.

Olly

[fozzybear]

For Me Astronomy Now my 2p worth

[Ratlet]

On 11/08/2022 at 15:29, westmarch said:

You do know that most UK libraries have these for free on their ebook app. Ours is called Libby. Use it before it gets cut.

John

Phenomenal tip.  Just got Libby and sure enough s@n.  Also sky and telescope Australia for some reason (I'm in Scotland)

[gorann]

I used to subscribe to Sky at Night but now it is Astronomy Now that I find in my mailbox - a clear improvement! A bit more in depth.

Some may have noticed that the gallery fills up more and more by images processed from one particular commercial data provider.  But I should not complain since I have the image of the month in the last issue😄

[DaveS]

Yeah, I noticed all the robotic images

I had prepared three images that I thought I might submit, but then I saw that out of five DSO images, three were from robotic telescopes, (Including the image of the month) and one was from Tivoli in Namibia.

So I thought "what's the point?". I don't have a sexy robotic image from an exotic location, just my back garden.

I even sent them an email expressing my displeasure, not that it would have any effect, not with Nick wossisname pushing one particular robotic provider.

[Louis D]

15 hours ago, DaveS said:

I had prepared three images that I thought I might submit, but then I saw that out of five DSO images, three were from robotic telescopes, (Including the image of the month) and one was from Tivoli in Namibia.

So I thought "what's the point?". I don't have a sexy robotic image from an exotic location, just my back garden.

Don't overlook APOD.  I see plenty of images from backyard imagers featured there.  Try to find a novel way of showing familiar objects to increase your odds.

[Louis D]

Sky & Telescope was acquired by the American Astronomical Society back in 2019, so hopefully that bodes well for the future of it.

[gorann]

15 hours ago, DaveS said:

Yeah, I noticed all the robotic images

I had prepared three images that I thought I might submit, but then I saw that out of five DSO images, three were from robotic telescopes, (Including the image of the month) and one was from Tivoli in Namibia.

So I thought "what's the point?". I don't have a sexy robotic image from an exotic location, just my back garden.

I even sent them an email expressing my displeasure, not that it would have any effect, not with Nick wossisname pushing one particular robotic provider.

It is not impossible. As I said I got the August image of the month in AN and it is from my backyard in Sweden😉.