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Charles Hakes
Position: Fort Lewis College

Learn to distinguish the shapes of galaxies

Greetings, Stargazers. This March gives us another month with two full moons and gives me a chance to complain about the popularity of calling it blue. I will have a celebration...

Search for the winter hexagon in the stars

Greetings, Stargazers. Even rarer than a twice-in-a-month full moon, is a month with no full moon. This can happen only in February. It turns out there are many way...

The truth behind the super-blue-moon-eclipse

Greetings, stargazers. Maybe you have read or heard there is supposed to be a super-blue-moon-eclipse this month. Yes, there will be an eclipse. But I am sorry to report that it i...

Binoculars, telescopes to enrich your stargazing nights

Greetings, stargazers. I have written a couple of articles recommending binoculars or entry-level telescopes, but it has been a few years since they came out. And because now is...

Grab your binoculars to gaze into Cassiopeia

Greetings, stargazers. Queen Cassiopeia in Greek mythology was beautiful and knew it. But her vanity turned out to be her downfall. She claimed that both she and her daughter, A...

Explore the constellation Pegasus during autumn months

Greetings, stargazers. Autumn brings not only a change in the weather, but also a major transition in your stargazing targets. Many of the stars in the summer sky are bright, su...

Explore many objects around the night sky’s summer triangle

Greetings, stargazers. This month is a good time to see the constellations and deep sky objects around the summer triangle. The summer triangle is an asterism that first appears ...

Pinhole projection method can be fun way to view eclipse

Greetings, stargazers. I have never seen a total eclipse. However, I have seen many partial solar eclipses, including the annular eclipse that passed over the Four Corners in 2012...

The length of a solar day varies slightly

Greetings, stargazers. Saturday night is a full moon. We are also less than a month after the summer solstice. The combination of a full moon and fewer hours without the sun mea...

Bright objects serve as guides to navigate night sky

Greetings, stargazers. When first learning to identify objects in the night sky, novice stargazers should start their observations before it gets completely dark. The planets an...

Southern sky offers astronomers summer viewing delights

Greetings, stargazers. For summer observing, I like to travel south of the equator. That is, south of the celestial equator. There, you can find objects that would pass directly...

How to spot space dust falling to earth

Greetings, stargazers. This is the time of year to dust off your telescope if it has been in the closet over the winter. Or dust off your observing skills if you are like me and...