Western Slope Skies

Nature operates on an intricate and precise schedule, guided by circadian rhythms—internal biological clocks that regulate sleep, activity, feeding, and reproduction. These rhythms are not only essential for human health but are also fundamental to the behavior of migratory birds, pollinators, and even the crops we cultivate. Understanding these natural cycles is crucial, particularly in rural communities where agriculture and wildlife conservation are deeply interconnected.

We live in a world that rarely slows down—late-night work, glowing screens, and irregular schedules have become the norm. But what if I told you that constantly ignoring your body's natural rhythms could put you at risk for serious diseases, including heart disease and breast cancer? The key to understanding this lies in our circadian rhythm—our body's internal 24-hour clock that regulates sleep, metabolism, and cellular repair among other bodily processes.

On the night of March 13 to 14, the Moon will move through Earth's shadow, creating a total lunar eclipse that is visible from Colorado.

Planetary alignment is a phenomenon where other planets in our solar system align from Earth's perspective. It is a rare event with some alignments occurring once in 100 years.

For those of us living away from our larger cities and towns, the West Slopearea from Grand Junction south to Cortez is one of the darkest places onEarth where people live. We know that by experience but that darkness hasbeen measured by satellites.

My whole life I've been asked the daunting question that seemed to put my whole belief system on trial. Aliens, were they real or not? If I had said yes, I was crazy, a conspiracy theorist who didn't know the difference between fictional video game characters and real life. But if I had said no, I'd be shutting down the entire possibility of there being something more to life than just what my little planet has to offer.

2025's almost here, and in astronomy, a lot will be happening.

Today dark skies are dwindling world-wide thanks to a dramatic increase in light pollution effects. Much like wildlife that once roamed this country extensively but were later pushed to protected areas like national parks for survival, our darkest skies now mostly remain above public lands.

Our galaxy is made up of billions of stars, gas, and dust, and it's truly something astonishing to see and be a part of.

Astrology and astronomy – the words sound so similar. So why do you get such a stink-eye from your friend the astronomer when you call her an astrologer?

Sixty-nine years ago, Humanity first contacted the Moon's surface with Luna 2, the former Soviet Union's uncrewed lunar probe. One may wonder what has been left behind over the decades. The answer is well over 200 tons of diverse artifacts. Behind the materials are many stories-- mundane, poignant, controversial, and amusing.

Viewing Northern Lights in Colorado is certainly possible, even common at times, such as during high levels of solar activity also known as "Solar Maximum.”

Stories, such as the one I've just shared and many others around the globe, were used to interpret the stars and celestial objects that people have seen sparkling in the night sky.

Throughout history, a belief in the “fixed” and changeless stars was held by many cultures. But at the beginning of the 19th Century, Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi repeatedly measured the position of a star called 61 Cygni. Piazzi's work overturned such long-held beliefs and led to research that ultimately allowed astronomers to accurately measure the scale of the Milky Way Galaxy and to learn of our location within it.

The Sun has been ‘in the news' these days. You may have read about various phenomena associated with the Sun, including sunspots, flares, and auroras or Northern Lights. So why all the interest in the Sun now?

AstroFest 2024 will feature dark night skies along the entire Gunnison River corridor from Curecanti National Recreation Area (certified Dark Sky in 2021) all the way to Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area – celebrating their recent certification as a Dark Sky Place.

Every year, right in the middle of August, my cousins and I drag all our sleeping bags andpillows up to their roof and wait for the sky event that goes highly unnoticed every year: the Perseid meteor shower.

Halos arise from sunlight refraction through microscopic ice crystals, usually aloft in cirrus clouds.

A star begins its life as a cloud of gas and dust. These are called molecular clouds, and they can range between 1,000 to 10 million times the mass of the sun.

A planetary alignment means that 3 or more planets line up in a row, as seen from the Earth, in the same area of the sky, that is, a “parade of planets”. The planets lie ROUGHLY on a line called the ecliptic, the path that the Sun appears to follow against the background of stars as we on Earth orbit the Sun. The parade can be tens of degrees in length.

When a star dies what is left behind is called a stellar remnant. The type of stellar remnant is dependent upon the star's mass.

Saturn's rings are one of the most astonishing things to see with your own eyes.

This year's Lake City Star Fest will be held June 7-9. We invite the public to celebrate the incredible starry night skies in our area along with some of Lake City's rich and colorful cultural heritage.

While gazing at that mystical point of light, time and space seem to disappear, if only for a moment. Even us older stargazers can still find plenty to wonder about when it comes to twinkling stars.

On Monday, April 8, 2024, we'll be able to see a total solar eclipse from parts of Mexico, the U. S., and Canada. Another such eclipse won't be visible from the 48 contiguous States for 20 years.

The Coalition, a 501c3 non-profit, is an umbrella organization dedicated to supporting Dark Sky Places.

The Sun is a star that provides Earth with the energy that drives most of our diverse and amazing biology. But where and how do stars form?

On clear, dark nights, we can see dozens of satellites with our eyes alone. Most satellites travel within a zone called Low Earth Orbit that ranges in altitude from 150 to 1200 miles.

Today, we explore a curious solar phenomenon that occurred from 1645 to 1715.

What if I told you that you could travel through time with a telescope? No, a telescope cannot take you back to 1955 to fix your parent's relationship. However, through a telescope, the possibilities to discover events that happened eons ago are opened by gazing at the colossal night sky.

In the vast expanse of the cosmos, there exists a mysterious force that challenges the very fabric of our understanding — dark matter. Let's embark on a journey into the cosmic unknown, exploring the enigma that comprises 85% of the universe's mass.

Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park and the surrounding Hill Country will be offering many events over eclipse weekend.

In December, it's tempting to stay inside and avoid the cold night air. But the December night sky is impressive! Find a star chart or planetarium App, then go out on a clear night, at least briefly, to enjoy the spectacle!

You may fondly remember the classic Eighties science program Cosmos, narrated by the late great astrophysicist Carl Sagan. In the episode “The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean”, he famously uttered “we're made of star stuff”. We are the products of nucleosynthesis, a set of processes that created the chemical elements, the building blocks of all we see and are.

2024 is almost here, and in astronomy, a lot will be happening.

Dark matter. You've probably heard of it, maybe in a Sci-Fi novel or movie, and you've probably wondered what it is exactly. Well, welcome to the club. Scientists have been asking themselves this question since its discovery in 1933. Dark matter is an invisible, mysterious substance that makes up 22% of the universe, but we know very little about it.

Ring nebulae and the rings of Saturn are among some familiar rings that exist in space. But consider ring galaxies!

In a total eclipse, the moon covers the sun completely and the sky darkens as if it were dawn or dusk.

On the night of October 5, 1923, using the 100-inch Hooker telescope on Mt. Wilson, Edwin Hubble captured a photographic plate image of M31, the Andromeda “Nebula”.

This year's festival will run from September 14 through 16th, to coincide with the September new moon.

If you've been paying attention to the news in the past year you've no doubt heard about the James Webb Space Telescope. However, there is another space telescope that still deserves your attention.

One of the best meteor showers of the year will peak during the second weekend of August, presenting the perfect opportunity to spot shooting stars streaking across the sky.

Recently, scientists announced detection of a persistent gravitational wave background (GWB), continually rippling the cosmos like a calm ocean breeze.

When people hear the name “Edwin Hubble,” they typically think of the Hubble Space Telescope. However, the Hubble Space Telescope was built after Edwin Hubble's death as a way to honor him.

The concept of scotobiology as a science was developed at a conference on light pollution held in Muskoka, Ontario, in 2003. Just as the word “photo” relates to light, “scoto” is the word that relates to “darkness.” Therefore, Scotobiology is the study of the role darkness plays in living organisms.

Have you ever wished upon a shooting star? For most of us, the novelty of wishing on a shooting star has faded since the days of our childhood.

The telescope's most important discovery to date has been finding the farthest black hole located at the center of a rare type of galaxy.

On September 26, 2022, a NASA spacecraft ran into the asteroid Dimorphos at nearly 15,000 miles per hour. Far from being a multi-million-dollar boondoggle, this collision is precisely what astronomers had planned. The spacecraft was part of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission, or DART for short. The goal: to test technology that could potentially divert a large asteroid, should we ever locate one on a collision course with Earth.

From June 7-11, we will hold our first ever StarFest to celebrate Lake City's starry skies and gather other dark sky advocates and interested folks from the western slope, the San Luis Valley, and throughout Colorado to see what more can be done to assure our precious night skies can be enjoyed by future generations. Unfortunately, light pollution is getting worse around the world so taking action is critical to turning things around.

Gleaming naked-eye apparition, Venus has captivated civilization since antiquity, garnering epithets of divine power and beauty-- Chac-Ek (“Great Star”) in Mayan, Jin-xing (“Golden Planet”) in Chinese, Phosphoros (“Lightbringer”) in Greek.

Back when our beloved western cities were still young and their skies still dark, customers waited weeks or even months for basic household items to reach their local mercantile shelves.