Astronomy (magazine)

Lore & Background

Astronomy was founded in 1973 by Stephen A. Walther, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point and an amateur astronomer. The first issue, August 1973, consisted of 48 pages with five feature articles and information about what to see in the sky that month. Walther, who had worked part time as a planetarium lecturer at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, created a business plan for the magazine as a senior class project in journalism. With help from his brother David, he brought the magazine to fruition. Walther died in 1977.

After Walther's death, AstroMedia Corp. brought in Richard Berry as editor. Berry created the offshoot Odyssey for young readers and the specialized Telescope Making. In 1985, Milwaukee hobby publisher Kalmbach bought Astronomy. Subsequent editors included Robert Burnham (1992), Bonnie Gordon (1996), and David J. Eicher (2002). The magazine has had regular columnists such as Bob Berman, Stephen James O'Meara, Glenn Chaple, and Phil Harrington, with columns covering topics from strange universe phenomena to observing basics and binocular use. As of February 2026, all four are listed as contributing editors.

The magazine's content is split: the front half reports on professional science (cosmology, space exploration, exobiology, professional observatories), while the back half covers hobbyist interests. Each issue includes a foldout star map, observing tips, astrophotography advice, reader-submitted photos, event listings, letters, news, and product announcements. Special sections have included booklets and posters, such as a Messier Catalog booklet and an Atlas of Extrasolar Planets poster. A Brazilian edition, Astronomy Brasil, was published by Duetto Editora in the mid-2000s but ceased in September 2007 due to low circulation. In 2024, the magazine was sold to Firecrown Media along with Kalmbach's railroad interest magazines.

Reader's Guide

Astronomy magazine holds significance as the largest circulation astronomy magazine, with a monthly circulation of 84,490, primarily in the United States but also in Canada and internationally. Its major competitor is Sky & Telescope, with a circulation of 62,234 in 2020. The magazine's legacy is built on its dual focus: reporting on professional astronomy and providing practical resources for amateur astronomers. It has maintained a consistent structure over decades, with regular columns by long-standing authors and a mix of science articles and hobbyist content. The magazine has also produced numerous special publications, including guides and posters, and has adapted to international markets with a short-lived Brazilian edition. Its sale to Firecrown Media in 2024 marks a recent transition in its ownership history.

Did You Know?

• The first issue of Astronomy, published in August 1973, was 48 pages with five feature articles.
• Astronomy's monthly circulation of 84,490 makes it the largest circulation astronomy magazine.
• The magazine was sold to Firecrown Media in 2024 along with Kalmbach's railroad interest magazines.

Identity and the Amateur-Professional Divide

Amateur astronomy occupies a unique space between casual curiosity and rigorous science. By definition, its practitioners do not earn their livelihood from the discipline, nor do they typically hold advanced degrees in astrophysics. Yet this lack of formal credentials has never prevented meaningful scientific contribution. Many hobbyists participate in citizen science programs, tracking variable and double stars, counting sunspots, recording lunar and asteroidal occultations, and even discovering transient events like comets, galactic novae, and supernovae in distant galaxies. While most remain pure enthusiasts, a subset accumulates enough expertise to assist and collaborate directly with professional astronomers. This boundary between amateur and professional work was far less rigid in earlier centuries, when many figures now recognized as foundational astronomers operated within an amateur framework. It was only from the early twentieth century onward that professional astronomy crystallized into a clearly separate career path, drawing a sharper line around the hobbyist community that had existed for millennia before.

The Full Spectrum of Observation

The scope of what amateur astronomers pursue extends far beyond a simple glance at the Moon. Common targets span the Sun, planets, stars, comets, meteor showers, and deep-sky wonders such as star clusters, galaxies, and nebulae. A significant branch of the hobby, astrophotography, has surged in accessibility thanks to digital cameras, DSLRs, and purpose-built CCD and CMOS sensors that capture the night sky with minimal technical overhead. Beyond visible light, a smaller group ventures into non-visual wavelengths. Grote Reber stands as a landmark figure: in the late 1930s he built the first dedicated radio telescope as an amateur, following up on Karl Jansky's detection of radio emissions from space. Today, some hobbyists use infrared filters on standard telescopes or access decommissioned research instruments like the One-Mile Telescope. Equally important is the social dimension: sidewalk astronomy, where observers set up telescopes for public viewing, serves both to educate communities and to spotlight the growing problem of light pollution.

Roots in Ancient Sky-Watching

The tradition of non-professional sky observation stretches back to the earliest civilizations. Babylonian, Chaldean, and ancient Egyptian cultures relied on careful naked-eye tracking of celestial bodies to construct calendars, forecast eclipse dates, and separate day from night—knowledge that directly informed agricultural planning and atmospheric prediction. These early observers used nothing more than simple tools and human sight, yet their systematic attention laid groundwork that would echo through millennia. The activity gained broader popular traction in the mid-nineteenth century, initially among wealthy individuals often called Grand Amateurs who could afford the finest instruments of the era. A dramatic democratization followed after World War II, when manufacturing advances made telescopes and optical equipment far more affordable. That shift transformed amateur astronomy from a pursuit of the privileged into a global hobby attracting millions of participants, each bringing their own curiosity to the night sky.

The Craft of Building and Choosing Instruments

Equipment choices in amateur astronomy reflect a wide spectrum of budgets, interests, and technical ambition. At the simplest end, the naked eye and a pair of binoculars remain surprisingly effective, offering a broader field of view and greater portability than many telescopes. As observers invest more, they graduate to optical telescopes of varying power, often paired with cameras to capture both visual and non-visual portions of the spectrum. A distinctive subculture within the hobby centers on telescope making itself: many enthusiasts build or commission custom instruments rather than buy commercial ones, treating the construction process as a primary source of satisfaction. For locating targets, options range from setting circles that allow manual pointing via celestial coordinates to fully automated GOTO mounts that find objects on demand after calibration. Light pollution remains a persistent challenge, pushing dedicated observers toward rural sites where sky glow does not wash out faint objects. Even modern smartphones, with their extended-exposure night modes, have entered the toolkit for casual sky-watching.