I'm going to go ahead and begin this first post with a shameless plug. Maybe you stumbled upon this blog because you are contemplating a vacation in Colorado this summer and happen to be interested in astronomy. (Or maybe you already live in Colorado and just like stargazing - that works too.) Look no further! The Gunnison Valley is not only Colorado at it's finest with all the best scenery, outdoor adventures, fishing, and more, we also happen to have some of the most incredible night skies in the country and our own public observatory with which to explore them! The Gunnison Valley Observatory is open to the public every Friday and Saturday night from mid-June to mid-September, and also hosts private parties from April through October. Ok, end of advertisement.
When people learn that I am an astronomer, it always leads to interesting conversations. I usually try to avoid the conversations that start with "do you believe in UFO's?" or "I have this theory...". But my I always get excited when the conversation turns to explaining what's up in the night sky, because, the fact is, I love teaching people about astronomy (probably a good thing as I do it for a living). Recently, as part of my college astronomy class, I met a group of students out on a dark corner of campus on a particularly chilly evening to point out constellations. One of my students pointed to an especially bright star in the east and asked,
"What is that?"
I responded that it was the planet Jupiter.
"No really, what is it?"
"Really, it's Jupiter."
"NO WAY, THAT IS SO COOL!"
Yes. Yes it is.
Currently Jupiter is the brightest star-like object up at night - you'll find it high in the east in the evening sky - it's pretty hard to miss. When the planets Venus, Jupiter or Saturn are in the sky at night, they each appear like very bright stars - Venus is the brightest of the three, followed by Jupiter and then Saturn. Mars and Mercury are also visible to the unaided eye, but are much less obvious - Mars looks like an average red star, while Mercury appears as an average white star very low on the horizon in either the evening or morning.
Other than Jupiter, Mercury is currently the only other planet visible in the evening, and it's a hard one to catch. This week, look for Mercury low in the evening twilight below the crescent moon. Mars rises around 11 PM below the bright blue star Spica and Saturn is high in the southern sky before dawn.
As I write this, we're enjoying the tail end of a pretty fantastic snowstorm in the Gunnison Valley, but it looks like some stargazing opportunities might present themselves this weekend or later next week.
When people learn that I am an astronomer, it always leads to interesting conversations. I usually try to avoid the conversations that start with "do you believe in UFO's?" or "I have this theory...". But my I always get excited when the conversation turns to explaining what's up in the night sky, because, the fact is, I love teaching people about astronomy (probably a good thing as I do it for a living). Recently, as part of my college astronomy class, I met a group of students out on a dark corner of campus on a particularly chilly evening to point out constellations. One of my students pointed to an especially bright star in the east and asked,
"What is that?"
I responded that it was the planet Jupiter.
"No really, what is it?"
"Really, it's Jupiter."
"NO WAY, THAT IS SO COOL!"
Yes. Yes it is.
Currently Jupiter is the brightest star-like object up at night - you'll find it high in the east in the evening sky - it's pretty hard to miss. When the planets Venus, Jupiter or Saturn are in the sky at night, they each appear like very bright stars - Venus is the brightest of the three, followed by Jupiter and then Saturn. Mars and Mercury are also visible to the unaided eye, but are much less obvious - Mars looks like an average red star, while Mercury appears as an average white star very low on the horizon in either the evening or morning.
Other than Jupiter, Mercury is currently the only other planet visible in the evening, and it's a hard one to catch. This week, look for Mercury low in the evening twilight below the crescent moon. Mars rises around 11 PM below the bright blue star Spica and Saturn is high in the southern sky before dawn.
As I write this, we're enjoying the tail end of a pretty fantastic snowstorm in the Gunnison Valley, but it looks like some stargazing opportunities might present themselves this weekend or later next week.
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