astronomy

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.

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

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.

Comets, once considered portents of doom, have long puzzled us. They move rapidly against the starry background. They grow tails, which may explain why the ancient Greeks called them “hairy stars.” Their brightness and even their exact paths can be hard to predict. So, what are these mysterious visitors that sometimes appear in our sky?

Looking back through the episodes of Western Slopes Skies since 2015, I realized that I’ve written features for the end of the year numerous times. I enjoy taking stock of the year – and celebrating all that has happened. -Art Trevena

2023 is almost here, and astronomically a lot will be happening. The coming year features a “ring-of-fire” eclipse, meteor showers under dark skies, high solar activity, auroras, eye-catching planetary conjunctions, a possibly bright comet, and important milestones in space science.

Most of us take sight for granted. The farthest-ranging of our five senses, sight enables remote observation of events, and shapes our perception of time and causality.

Over 80% of people living in the United States cannot see the Milky Way from where they live because of too much artificial light at night.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park celebrates dark skies and the Autumnal Equinox at Astrofest 2022

There are plenty of good reasons to gaze up at the heavens. Both the astronomer aiming their telescope at a distant star or the person raising their hands in reverent prayer are looking upward for answers to important questions.