Monthly Skies

By Mike Hotka

You have a telescope and take it out under dark skies, those skies that are full of stars. You look up in awe and then start trying to find something to look at. You may start out by viewing the solar system objects.… Continue reading.

By Daniel Acker

I’m not sure if this is a little “old school” or not but, I have kept observation logs since the early 1980’s and I’ll look back through them from time to time and recall some interesting things that happened while observing on a particular night or compare how improved my observing skills have become or even how improved telescopes have become since those early days as a backyard astronomer.… 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 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.

© 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.

by Zachary Singer

Some of our favorite planetary targets, Venus and Jupiter, are up in the pre-dawn sky this month, and Mercury appears in the evening, as we’ll see in “The Solar System,” below. In “Stars and Deep Sky,” we’ll take a look at two notable open clusters in Auriga, M36 and M37.… Continue reading.

by Zachary Singer

We start the first month of the New Year off with a splash—a total lunar eclipse on the night of January 20th. Along with that, we have planets and two targets in Eridanus—one is an important multiple-star system, and the other a striking planetary nebula.… Continue reading.