What’s Up in Denver? January 27th through February 2nd, 2025

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Here’s a brief look at what’s going on in the skies above the Mile High City this week.

January 27:

 

If you’re planning to to take part in the NASA/AL Hubble Night Sky Challenge, for either the January (Silver) or the entire year (Gold), this is the last week to complete your observations.… Continue reading.

February Night Sky Notes: How Can You Help Curb Light Pollution?

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This article is distributed by NASA’s Night Sky Network (NSN).

The NSN program supports astronomy clubs across the USA dedicated to astronomy outreach. Visit nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov to find local clubs, events, and more!

By Dave Prosper Updated by Kat Troche

 

Light pollution has long troubled astronomers, who generally shy away from deep sky observing under full Moon skies.… Continue reading.

Astronomical League and NASA Celebrate 35 Years of Hubble

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The Astronomical League and NASA have announced a new observing program to celebrate 35 Years of the Hubble Space Telescope

Explore the Night Sky Like Hubble!

You can help celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope by taking on the Hubble’s Night Sky Observing Challenge!… Continue reading.

If you Bought a Telescope between 2005 and 2023, You Might Qualify for a Settlement

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Major Telescope Companies Face $32 Million Settlement Over Price Fixing

 

Amateur astronomers who bought telescopes between 2005 and 2023 might qualify for payments from a $32 million settlement. This comes after a class action lawsuit accused major telescope makers of price fixing and monopolizing the U.S.… Continue reading.

What’s Up in Denver? January 20th through 26th, 2025

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Here’s a brief look at what’s going on in the skies above the Mile High City this week.

January 20:

The moon reaches apogee (its farthest distance from earth) at 10:00 AM MST, when it’s 251,219 miles away. Look for Venus and Saturn to be less than 3° apart (about two fingers’ width)  in the constellation of Aquarius towards the southwest in the early evening sky.… Continue reading.

Goodbye, Wendee

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Dear readers,

What follows is the most difficult article I have ever written. On Friday, September 23, 2022, my wife Wendee died. She had been suffering from metastatic breast cancer for over a decade, but this past summer she was truly and clearly suffering.… Continue reading.

A Water World, Missing Monoxide and Solar Switchbacks

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SLS Launch Further Delayed – Following previous technical delays, the first Space Launch System (SLS) rocket returned to the safety of NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building before the landfall of Hurricane Ian. After confirming that it suffered no damage, NASA announced they’re likely to make another launch attempt in November.… Continue reading.

An obituary for Donald Edward Machholz

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Dear Don,

You left us far too soon, my friend. From your home in California and later in Arizona, you lived quietly and well, with a passion for stargazing that dominated your life.

As the English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote, “I am like a slip of comet,/ Scarce worth discovery.”… Continue reading.

A Black Widow Star, a Gassy Circumplanetary Disk and an Interstellar Object on Earth

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New JWST Images – James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) astronomers have continued to release new images. Among them is a mosaic covering an area about eight times the size of Webb’s First Deep Field released in July. The mosaic was made for the CEERS program, which is surveying a fraction of one square degree of sky with JWST in various infrared wavelengths.… Continue reading.

On first looking through Baade’s window

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Much have I travell’d in the realms of gold,

And many goodly stars and clusters seen;

Round celestial islands have I been

With telescope after telescope to the night sky hold.

Oft of one wide expanse had I been told

That Galileo ruled as his demesne;

Yet did I never breathe its pure serene

Till I heard Baade speak out loud and bold:

Then felt I like some watcher of the skies

When a new star cluster swims into his ken;

Through his majestic window looks upon the Milky Way

He star’d at the centre of our galaxy.… Continue reading.

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