Space & Astronomy calendar in Outlook

The New York Times has a nifty new calendar of upcoming space related events including eclipses, meteor showers, launches etc.  Here’s how to add the NYT Astronomy and Space Calendar into Outlook software.

The service is directly linked to Google and Apple iOS devices (iPhone / iPad ) with Outlook software and Outlook.com relegated to the ‘Advanced’ basement.

But it’s not that hard and it’s an excuse for us to show how to add any shared calendar into Outlook, even if it’s not officially supported.

Get the NYT Astronomy and Space Calendar calendar link

Update:  The NYT has revised their instructions and have now published a direct link to the .ics. No more messing about with Google Calendar!

The Google and iOS links are still at the top of their page but near the bottom of the page is the link that Outlook users need:

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/nytimes.com_89ai4ijpb733gt28rg21d2c2ek%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics

Now you have the .ics link, switch over to Outlook and to our article on adding a shared calendar to Outlook.

Old instructions

For the sake of completeness, here’s the ‘old’ instructions for adding the Space/Astronomy calendar.

To get the .ics link, add it to your Google Calendar first.  The NYT calendar is available to anyone with a Google account.

If you have a free Google account, then you already have a Google Calendar even if you don’t realize or use it. Login to your Google Account, assuming you’re not logged in already.   (We’re not entirely sure that the Google Account login is necessary but it’s the method described by NYT)

Go to the New York Times page:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/science/astronomy-space-calendar.html

click on the Google versions of ‘add the calendar’ options.

On the NYT site you’ll see a ‘Thanks for subscribing’ message.

Go to your Google Calendar at https://www.google.com/calendar on the left side look under ‘Other Calendars’ to see the NYT Astronomy and Space.

You can see the calendar individually or overlaid with other calendars.

The .ics link is in the Calendar settings. Click on the little wedge next to the calendar item then choose ‘Calendar settings’.

Look for the ‘Calendar Address’ property and click the iCal button.

Now you’ll see the full .ics web link.  Copy that link however your browser enables that.

Now you have the .ics link, switch over to Outlook and to our article on adding a shared calendar to Outlook.