Kelly Beatty, S&T's Senior Contributing Editor, joined the staff of Sky Publishing in 1974. He also served as the editor of Night Sky, our magazine for beginning stargazers, in 2004-07.

Specializing in planetary science and space exploration, Kelly writes many of the feature articles and news items found in Sky & Telescope and on this Web site. He also conceived and edited The New Solar System, which is now in its fourth edition and considered a standard reference among planetary scientists. In 2005 he was honored with the Harold Masursky Award for meritorious service by the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society. The following year he received the prestigious Astronomical League Award for his contributions to the science of astronomy.

Kelly enjoys writing for a wide spectrum of audiences, from children to professional astronomers, and his work has appeared in numerous other magazines, newspapers, and encyclopedias. You'll occasionally hear his guest commentaries for National Public Radio's "Morning Edition," and he enjoys speaking to audiences of all ages and interest levels about his passion for astronomy. He observes when he can through one of his eight telescopes, and he is active nationally in the fight against light pollution.

Kelly hails from Madera, California. He holds a Bachelors degree in geology from the California Institute of Technology and a Master's degree in science journalism from Boston University. During the 1980s he was among the first Western journalists to gain firsthand access to the Soviet space program. Asteroid 2925 Beatty was named on the occasion of his marriage in 1983, and in 1986 he was chosen one of the 100 semifinalists for NASA's Journalist in Space program.