Hydrogen Filament – A group of astronomers at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy has identified the radio signature of a giant filament of atomic hydrogen 3,900 light-years long and 130 light-years wide, located near the far side of our Milky Way galaxy.… Continue reading.
What crowd is this? What have we here? We must not pass it by;
A telescope upon its frame, and pointed to the sky…
– William Wordsworth, 1806
While I was working on my master’s degree at Queen’s University in Canada some 42 years ago, I came across this poem, loved it, and decided to include it in my thesis.… Continue reading.
We all got a special and thoroughly delightful present early on Christmas morning. Although I did not set my alarm, Wendee did get up around 5 am. I turned on our television set, and what I saw 15 minutes later was the most thrilling space view since 1969, when Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the Moon.… Continue reading.
James Webb Space Telescope Launched – Shortly after noon local time, December 25, the Ariane 5 rocket carrying the James Webb Space Telescope lifted off from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guyana. The infrared telescope is now starting its month-long journey towards its ultimate home, orbiting Earth’s L2 Lagrange point, about a million miles away.… Continue reading.
“A Dragon Lives forever, but not so girls and boys.”
Three quarters of a century ago, during the Second World War, the famous Harvard astronomer Harlow Shapley, along with Charles Federer, founding editor of Sky and Telescope Magazine, launched an association of astronomy clubs across the United States.… Continue reading.
Hubble Resumes Observing – In late October, a computer onboard the Hubble Space Telescope detected that communications between computers and instruments were missing critical synchronization messages. All instruments were placed in safe mode so ground controllers could troubleshoot the problem. They tested each instrument independently and found all operating correctly, meaning the fault was likely somewhere in the communications, though they’re still investigating the root cause.… Continue reading.
Agreed, this seems like an awfully daffy title for an astronomy article. But there is method to the madness, and there is a story. During the late summer of 2019 there was a star party in southeast Arizona that featured a dark sky and five perfect back-to-back nights.… Continue reading.
Hello, fellow DAS members. The President’s corner is back and there’s a lot to catch up on.
First, a big thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the recent Member Survey. We on the executive board are excited to receive your input, and are weighing how to best answer your questions and address the issues that were raised.… Continue reading.
Mars Floods – The Mars rover Perseverance has been studying the western delta fan, which was built up by layers of sediment dropped into Jezero Crater by a river, back when the crater was a lake, about 3.7 billion years ago.… Continue reading.
Jennifer Jones makes her living teaching astronomy, something few Denver Astronomical Society members can say. As the Astronomy Program Chair at Arapahoe Community College (ACC), she spends her days exploring the mysteries of the cosmos with her students. It’s the culmination of a lifelong love of science and discovery.… Continue reading.