CONTENTS = on the cover C : I T E R J U P , N A S A /J P LC A LT E C H/S E T I I N S T I T U T E : E U R O PA , R A E L A R R Y N : PA G E I S T H T I . F E LT Ó & P É T E R T H T Ó B E N C E : I M A G E C O V E R E S A / , E S A , I O T O S T U D @ T H E S H E D _ P H O , J H A . E S A /H U B B L E & N A S A /S , N A S A /J P LC A LT E C H E : C L I P P E R , I S T O C K /G E T T Y I E P R O/ S C & E S A S O H O/ N A S A I T Y ) , I V E R S U N I F F ( C A R D E S S O N W . I S T ) R ( A C R C O X . ( U C L ) N B A R L O W . E B B/ N A S A /C S A /M W Features 26 Astronomy photographer C of the year 2024 Feast your eyes as we reveal this year’s stunning winning images 34 Europa Clipper: searching C for life at Jupiter’s icy moon Read about the new frontier in the hunt for life: Europa’s buried ocean 40 Particle physics 101 Dark matter, the mysterious stuff holding the Universe together 60 Maggie’s top 10 JWST images C The Sky at Night presenter picks her incredible Webb favourites 66 Crash scene investigator C Hera, the mission to help stop asteroids before they hit us Regulars 6 Eye on the sky 10 Bulletin 14 Cutting edge 16 Inside The Sky at Night 19 Interactive 23 Field of view 24 Subscribe to BBC Sky C at Night Magazine 72 Explainer 74 Skills for stargazers: How to use setting circles 98 Q&A: a lunar cave explorer Astrophotography 76 Capture 78 Processing 80 Gallery 4 BBC Sk y at Night Magazine October 2024 26 Reviews 86 Altair Starwave Ascent C 70ED bundle 90 ZWO AM5N harmonic drive mount and TC40 tripod 95 Gear 96 Books C 16 -PAGE CENTRE PULLOUT C The Sky Guide 44 Highlights 46 The big three 48 The planets 50 October’s all-sky chart 52 Moonwatch 53 Comets and asteroids 53 Star of the month 54 Binocular tour 55 The Sky Guide challenge 56 Deep-sky tour 58 October at a glance