Greetings, stargazers.
Federal grant cutting is finally hitting close to home. These grants have supported Fort Lewis College student activities for at least all of this century.
Unfortunately, a National Science Foundation grant to promote increased participation in STEM fields by underrepresented and minority populations was recently canceled. Students anticipating these funds are now out of a summer job at the last minute. For my part, the primary activity would have been to have them learn about the operation and maintenance of the observatories on the roof of Sitter Family Hall and at the Old Fort Lewis.
When the new Physics, Engineering, and Geosciences building had its grand opening in 2017, the observatory was well equipped as part of the new building fund. However, that was eight years ago, and Fort Lewis College has never been an institution rolling in dough. While I can afford to volunteer my time on the observatory, most students don’t have that luxury.
Fortunately for some other students, the NASA Space Grant ended up as part of the continuing resolution, so there is still some money to support them. At least for now – the baseline funding hasn’t changed since the “good” hourly wage was $8 per hour. These students are working on a package of experiments that will fly on the High Altitude Student Platform – one of the giant NASA balloons launching from Ft. Sumner, New Mexico, this September.
The days keep getting warmer, and the nights keep getting shorter. At least the rain this week has hopefully delayed fire season.
For the next few nights, the full moon will be obscuring most of the dimmer galaxies, clusters and nebulae you might want to look for. But even without the moon, astronomical twilight doesn’t end tonight until 9:52. That is when the last remnant of daylight finally fades and you would need to wait until at least then to see the dimmest things in the night sky.
Right after sunset, Jupiter, the largest planet, and Sirius, the brightest star visible in the night sky, are the two bright objects near the western horizon. Jupiter is slightly brighter and bit to the north of Sirius.
Mars is still prominent, but not nearly as bright as it was during its opposition back in January. As the Earth races ahead of it in orbit, it will be another year and a half before Mars is as prominent again.
Venus reaches its greatest western elongation on May 31st. This is the day of its highest point as the morning star. If you have never seen Venus in broad daylight, this is a good month to do that. You don’t need to wait until the 31st. If you go outside at dawn, while Venus is still the most prominent object in the eastern sky, you can see how far, and in what direction it is compared to the sun when it rises. Both objects will keep following the ecliptic, so the sun and Venus will keep their same positions relative to each other throughout the day. It takes some practice to find Venus in the daytime, but being able to point it out is a surefire way to impress your friends.
Useful links
Daylight hours
https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/durango
Astronomy picture of the day
An Astronomer’s forecast for Durango
http://www.cleardarksky.com/c/DrngoCOkey.html?1
Old Fort Lewis Observatory
http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory
hakes_c@fortlewis.edu
Charles Hakes teaches in the physics and engineering department at Fort Lewis College and is the director of the Fort Lewis Observatory.
