Author – The Durango Herald

Rockets and satellites: Some cool, others not so much

Greetings, stargazers. Besides stars, planets, galaxies, and nebulae, there are lots of other interesting things to see in the Durango sky. I am particularly thinking of some of the human-ma...

DATE: Aug 9, 2023 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

Dobsonians

Greetings, stargazers. A regular occurrence for me is being asked what kind of telescope someone should buy. My answer is always the same – the best one is the one that will get used the mos...

DATE: Jul 6, 2023 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

Looking for globular clusters

Greetings, stargazers. It seems like the only things I have seen in the evening sky recently have been clouds. Although the garden plants are happy with the rain, my dogs are unhappy about t...

DATE: Jun 10, 2023 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

Why dark skies are dark

Greetings stargazers. We are fortunate to live in one of the darker corners of the continental United States. Most of you could correctly explain this darkness is because of the absence of a...

DATE: May 14, 2023 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

Cosmology tackles big subjects

Greetings stargazers. How did we get here? Where are we going? How big and how old is the universe, and what is our place in it? These are some of the big questions that some might argue go ...

DATE: Apr 9, 2023 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

Finding Leo’s galaxies

Greetings stargazers. End Daylight Saving Time! There – I got my semiannual rant out of the way and can get back to what are likely more productive musings. Leo is one of the constellations ...

DATE: Mar 13, 2023 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

Orion shines in its spot in the sky

Greetings stargazers. We shouldn’t neglect to show appreciation to old friends, and yet it has been many years since I have dedicated a column to perhaps the most recognizable constellation ...

DATE: Feb 8, 2023 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

Comets: Solar system’s tasty leftovers

Greetings, stargazers. Just as when cooking a large meal you often end up with some delicious leftovers, the leftovers from the formation of our solar system are some of the most interesting...

DATE: Jan 14, 2023 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

Meaning of nebula remains ‘fuzzy’

Greetings stargazers. Many scientific terms are very specific, but the term nebula is, well, nebulous. In a very generic sense, it simply means a fuzzy thing. But there are a wide variety of...

DATE: Dec 8, 2022 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

Keep an eye out for Perseus

Greetings, stargazers. It feels great to be back on standard time and not have to leave the house before sunrise. I know some of you are not liking the early evening darkness, but I hope Co...

DATE: Nov 12, 2022 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

Andromeda visible in northeastern sky

Greetings stargazers. Andromeda is one of the 88 modern constellations that was likely known and named long before it appeared on Ptolemy’s list in the second century CE. But my experience ...

DATE: Oct 7, 2022 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

The difference between a tropical year and a sidereal year

Greetings, stargazers. The autumnal equinox this year is at 7:03 p.m. Sept. 22. We typically think of the first day of fall as something that happens all day long, but the equinox is the tim...

DATE: Sep 10, 2022 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies