Oh, what a delight to read such... enriching magazines ( I know what I want for Christmas: subscriptions to these magazines!) But they're being forced against one another for educational purposes which as good as reason as any other.
First off I need to compare specific areas of the magazines :
Monthly Sky Map: Well the Sky and Telescope I have is from 2012 and the Astronomy is from last month ( lucky me!!) so the Astronomy is more recent, and I like the sky event calendar on the side of the map but I prefer Sky and telescope's map, mostly for the ascetics and coloring of the map.
News Briefs: Astronomy seemed to have more ( in number) in their news briefs. They weren't all lengthy, some were just little blips. Sky and Telescope had fewer stories but each one they had was beefier. So quality over quantity was present in Sky and Telescope.
Reader Photo Gallery: I didn't know I was looking at the reader photos in Sky and Telescope. They were magnificent but I didn't know, they weren't well labeled, unlike Astronomy. They were really well identified and I was impressed with their selection.
( I'm listening to music as I write and the lyrics " You're made of Stardust" in a song by Daniel and the lion appeared and it made me really happy because as I write an astronomy blog, my music is fitting the theme, sorry I thought I should add that)
Feature Articles: The Sky and Telescope had a lovely article on Brown dwarfs and how the spectral classes are being shifted for the cooler and cooler stars being discovered, which Mrs. Herrold talked about the special L, T and Y classes below the M class, formerly the coolest class in the spectral classes. Astronomy had an article of the makings of a spectacular comet in honor of comet ISON's arrival this month ( WE"VE GOT 5 DAYS till ISON passes closest to the son!!!) and they recounted past stunning comet displays.
Monthly columns: Astronomy has a beautiful column on astrosketching ( can I do that on observing nights instead ? ) the quality of the sketches they had of the moon's craters and maria was stunning. Sky and Telescope had a ho-hum article on observing that involved a lot of eyepiece sizes that to me as one without a telescope weren't too interested in.
Other Ascetics Sky and Telescope had too many telescope ads I found them too frequent but overall had better graphics. Astronomy had the better writing and information for me.
Personally I would pick Astronomy Magazine based on the fact that I don't have a telescope so I don't need to read about the latest eyepieces or lenses, I want straight star stuff. Which astronomy provides in a tasteful manner.:
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