Author: Editor

By Dena McClung

The Denver Astronomical Society is pleased to announce that it is partnering with Douglas County’s Open Space and Natural Resources department for a members-only program at Sandstone Ranch on Saturday, October 19. The event will show off the dark skies at the ranch, as well as help train and encourage members to get involved in future DAS public events.… Continue reading.

by Zachary Singer

My Friends,

It’s been four years since I came on as the Denver Observer’s editor and (soon after) writer of the “Monthly Skies” column. When I started, we were still putting out an eight-page PDF—it was accompanied by a printed black-and-white edition.… Continue reading.

by Jeff Kanipe

This month, we have a wonderful surprise for you—a tour of the southern sky, as seen from Chile, by Jeff Kanipe, author of the highly regarded series, Annals of the Deep Sky.… Continue reading.

On Sunday, June 2nd, about a dozen members of the DAS volunteered at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science’s Space Day. While some volunteers answered the public’s questions at tables inside the museum, others showed visitors the Sun through their solar telescopes.… Continue reading.

The Van Nattan-Hansen Scholarship Fund is now accepting applications for 2019. Denver Astronomical Society’s VNH Scholarship program provides support for worthy graduating high school students or undergraduate college students majoring in astronomy and the physical sciences.… Continue reading.

by Zachary Singer

Along with the planets this month, we’ve got two targets in the constellation Canes Venatici—one is a sun-like star, and the other a bright spiral galaxy. Let’s get going…

Mercury starts May as a morning object, technically speaking—it’s very low on the horizon before dawn, and moving closer to the Sun daily.… Continue reading.

by Zachary Singer

For April, we’re looking at a beautiful binary in Leo, and some galaxies in a tight grouping—but perhaps not the one you’re guessing! First, though, we have the planets….

Technically, Mercury will be up before the Sun in early April, but even at greatest elongation on the 11th (when the planet appears farthest from the Sun on this orbit), it will remain very low over the horizon, less than half an hour before sunrise.… Continue reading.

by Ed Ladner

First, let me express my appreciation to all the DAS members who participated in the most recent elections. Without your support, this Society could not exist.

I’d like to talk with you about volunteerism—the only thing that makes our Society work.… Continue reading.

by Don Lynn

Hayabusa2 (a Japanese spacecraft) has touched down on its target, the asteroid Ryugu, and completed a procedure to fire a projectile into it and collect the debris blown off. Another sample will be taken from inside a fresh impact crater to find out what the inside of the asteroid is made of.… Continue reading.

© Zachary Singer

In March, we have a relatively quiet month for planets: Most of them are now early-morning objects, but they are at a greater angle from the Sun, allowing better observing. In the “Stars and Deep Sky” section, we’ll look at two stars in the constellation Cancer—the first is a wonderful binary, and the other, a lesser-known carbon star.… Continue reading.