Astronomy is arguably the oldest science, and has featured strongly throughout the history of Nature — the first quasar, the first exoplanet, the nature of spiral nebulae, to name but a few of the advances reported in its pages. The launch of Nature Astronomy now enables much expanded coverage of the modern discipline: the journal welcomes research across astronomy, astrophysics and planetary science, with the aim of fostering closer interaction between the researchers in each of these areas. Like all Nature-branded journals, Nature Astronomy is characterized by a dedicated team of professional editors, a fair and rigorous peer-review process, high standards of copy-editing and production, swift publication and editorial independence. In addition to publishing original research, Nature Astronomy publishes Comments, Reviews, News and Views, Features and Correspondence from across the full range of disciplines concerned with astronomy, as well as from a full range of voices. Nature Astronomy publishes research, reviews and commentary at the cutting edge of astronomy, astrophysics and planetary science. Aiming to promote closer interaction between diverse astronomy-relevant disciplines, we consult widely with researchers at all stages of their careers, and more than one third of our commissioned authors are women.