Welcome to The Urban Astronomer, an astronomy website written for and by people who are trapped in the city and denied seeing the full glory of a dark night sky. Here you will find articles on how to set up an observing site to minimise the effects of light pollution, and guides on how to get the most enjoyment from naked eye, or small instrument viewing. There are more detailed articles explaining the science behind common astronomical concepts (from Eclipses to Black Holes). There's a question and answer section (now with a Short Questions sub-section, for the researcher in a hurry), where I answer reader's emailed questions with full length articles, and a News and Updates section, where I'll post short news items, and announcements of updates to the site. There's even a 2012 section, where I attempt to cut through the fog of doomsday misinformation around the year 2012.

If you enjoy what you read, please feel free to link to it in your blogs and emails, or share it on your favourite social network! Note that, where uncredited, all images are gathered from http://commons.wikimedia.org/ and have been made free for public use by the original authors. If you find your own work on this page, please contact me at uastronomer@gmail.com.