Sky & Telescope August 2024 Magazine

Stars and worlds and gamma rays, oh my! The August 2024 issue of Sky & Telescope overflows with out-of-this-solar-system excitement. First, we follow astronomers on their hunt for the largest stars in the universe. Just how massive can they get? It’s a question without a clear answer — yet. We’re also looking at how we’ll eventually find another planet like ours in the universe. It’ll take some time, and new technology; in the meantime, we can observe star clouds with just a small telescope or pair of binoculars. We also show an inside look at the construction of the enormous Large-Sized Telescope at La Palma’s Cherenkov Telescope Array, which will scan Earth’s atmosphere for the faint flashes of blue light that occur when gamma rays hit the upper atmosphere. Also in this issue, we relive the excitement of the total solar eclipse of April 8th with reports from friends of S&T who were scattered all along the eclipse path as the Moon’s shadow crossed North America.