Sharing the Night Sky with the Public Since 1949

For over seventy-five years, the Denver Astronomical Society has brought together stargazers across the Denver metropolitan area and beyond. The society hosts dozens of events and activities yearly to promote amateur astronomy across our unique region, one mile nearer the stars.

July

8:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Open House

Looking for a FREE fun family activity? Join the Denver Astronomical Society for our monthly Open House Saturday night at dusk. This event will occur on the south lawn of DU’s historic Chamberlin Observatory, 2930 E. Warren Avenue, Denver. Weather … Read More ...

View Detail

Astro Update – June

Astronomy and space news summarized by Don Lynn from NASA and other sources Ingenuity – The Mars helicopter Ingenuity completed its planned five test flights. The final one of these included landing at a new site that it had not touched before (though it took images of the site during its previous flight), and climbing to a record altitude of 33 feet. Its flights must be within about three-fifths of a mile of the rover Perseverance, because the tiny radio in the helicopter has a limited range to send flight data and images after each flight. The rover then relays…
Click here to read more
Skyward – June

Faint Fuzzies By David H. Levy The night before last, a comet named Palomar (actually known as C (for comet)/ 2020 T2 Palomar) was gliding near one of the most beautiful clusters of stars in the entire sky. It was parading about at about magnitude 11, which means that for my oldish eyes, it would be too faint to see. In fact, just a few weeks ago I spotted a second comet, named ATLAS. That comet, at ninth magnitude, was so diffuse that I barely spotted it. So I was not going to try for this other comet.
Click here to read more
Astro Update – May

Astronomy and space news summarized by Don Lynn from NASA and other sources Black Hole Magnetic Field – In 2019, astronomers unveiled the first ever picture of a black hole, or more precisely, the material surrounding the supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy M87. Further processing of that image data by the Event Horizon Collaboration revealed the polarization of its light. This polarization is caused by electrons deflected by magnetic fields, so the new image shows magnetic fields around that black hole. Astronomers expected the light around a black hole to be mostly polarized, but found it only…
Click here to read more
President’s Corner – May

Many of you have made my day by replying to my May 4 all-member email, for which I am very grateful. Some had questions, some respond to specific requests for feedback and involvement, and others wanted to express their feelings about the unwelcome cancellations and changes that are the result of the coronavirus pandemic and the public health safety measures that had to be instituted. No matter the reason for your response, I welcomed all of those replies. As a result, we have some fresh volunteers to present for In-Reach member education events, which will resume online beginning June 5.…
Click here to read more

Chamberlin Observatory Tours

The Denver Astronomical Society hosts weekly and monthly events* at the University of Denver’s historic Chamberlin Observatory, which features its prized 1894 Alvan Clark-Saegmuller 20-inch refracting telescope. The Observatory serves as the DAS home base for numerous Astronomy Nights, Open Houses, and special events throughout the year.

Due to overwhelming demand, we are changing how we reserve our Astronomy Nights and adding more to the calendar. For details, see our Reservations page.

If you have any questions about EXISTING reservations or want to change your existing reservation, email us at reservations@denverastro.org.

M•45 – Pleiades, Seven Sisters, Subaru image by Darrell Dodge

Astrophotography Special Interest Group

The Denver Astronomical Society (DAS) has established a Special Interest Group amongst its members devoted to Astrophotography. Do you want to learn or improve your skills in astrophotography? Do you enjoy viewing pictures of the Sun, Moon, Planets, or Deep Sky Objects? Can you take similar images? You may have skills that you could pass on to novice members. Consider joining DAS and being part of this Special Interest Group. Please email us for more information. astrophotogroup@denverastro.org

The Van Nattan-Hansen-Anderson Scholarship

Established in 1973, the DAS Van Nattan-Hansen-Anderson Scholarship supports graduating high school and undergraduate college students majoring in astronomy and the physical sciences. Interested and eligible students are invited to apply for funding on the Scholarship Page.