Chris Vaughan

After months of waiting, Mars has finally taken center stage in the night sky for skywatchers all around the world!

Skywatchers the world over are buzzing about Comet NEOWISE, the first easily-visible comet to appear in years. Your favorite mobile astronomy app can tell you when, where and how to look for it.

A new fun and educational app called "Our Galaxy" lets smartphone users explore the cosmos from the palm of their hand.

How to use a mobile astronomy app to preview and track the Mercury transit on Nov. 11.

Smartphones and tablets contain far more computing power than the Apollo 11 Lunar Module did. And our favorite mobile astronomy apps now put the universe at our fingertips.

Starry Night software lets you track the Apollo 11 mission.

French astronomer Charles Messier's list of the best and brightest showpieces in the night sky is popular with skywatchers of all experience levels.

Sunday night, Jan. 20, will bring the first celestial spectacle of 2019 for skywatchers all across the Americas: a total eclipse of the moon.

At 12:33 a.m. EST on Jan. 1, 2019, a robotic emissary of humankind will fly past a never-seen-before world in the outer solar system. Here's how to watch with mobile apps.

Early autumn brings ideal conditions for stargazing.

We assume that the stars' positions in the heavens are eternal. But everything in space is in motion.

This month, a periodically returning comet designated 21P/Giacobini-Zinner is bright enough to be seen in binoculars and small telescopes. Here's how to track it.

This weekend brings us one of 2018's best astronomical events: the Perseid meteor shower. Here's how to see it with the help of mobile apps.

Mars' closest approach is coming! Here's how to navigate the event with mobile apps.

This week, the small and distant dwarf planet Pluto will reach opposition, the time of the year when the object is closest to Earth and brightest in the sky. Here's how to track it with mobile apps.

For skywatchers, the most memorable star parties are the ones where an experienced astronomer was there to trace out the constellations and tell the stories behind them.

Next summer will mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission — when humans first set foot on another celestial object.

Since its launch atop the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on Feb. 6, Elon Musk's cherry-red Tesla Roadster has become the solar system's newest "minor body."

In this edition of Mobile Astronomy, we'll look at an eclipsing binary star that changes in brightness enough for everyday skywatchers to detect it easily.

Learn to spot star patterns called asterisms — including the Winter Football, just in time for the Super Bowl — using mobile astronomy apps.

In 2018, the world will experience three partial solar eclipses and two total lunar eclipses — but whether you can see them depends on where you live.

Last year's big astronomy story was the Great American Total Solar Eclipse, which crossed the U.S. from coast to coast back in August. But for 2018 — it's Mars!