Short answers, pulled from the story.
Astronomy magazine was founded by Stephen A. Walther, a journalism graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and amateur astronomer. The first issue was published in August 1973. Walther died in 1977, just four years after launching the magazine.
Astronomy magazine has a monthly circulation of 84,490, making it the largest-circulation astronomy magazine in the world. Its main competitor, Sky and Telescope, had a circulation of 62,234 as of 2020.
Astronomy magazine was sold to Firecrown Media in 2024. Before that, it was owned by Kalmbach Media for nearly four decades after Kalmbach purchased it from AstroMedia Corp. in 1985.
Long-running columnists have included Bob Berman, who wrote "Bob Berman's Strange Universe" from January 1992 to February 2024; Stephen James O'Meara, who wrote "Stephen James O'Meara's Secret Sky" from March 2007 to May 2025; Glenn Chaple, who wrote "Glenn Chaple's Observing Basics" from January 2003 to December 2022; and Phil Harrington, who wrote "Phil Harrington's Binocular Universe" across two separate runs between 2005 and 2024.
Astronomy magazine is based in Brookfield, Wisconsin, near Milwaukee. It was originally founded in Milwaukee by AstroMedia Corp., the company Stephen A. Walther established to publish it.
A Brazilian edition called Astronomy Brasil was published by Duetto Editora during the mid-2000s. It was discontinued in September 2007, primarily due to low circulation numbers.