ENVIRONMENT

Hunting season is upon us, and the Western Slope is now playing host to thousands of local and out-of-state hunters intent on bagging a deer, elk or other game. The first rifle season starts Saturday. KVNF’s Ariana Brocious talked with Colorado Parks and Wildlife district wildlife manager Kirk Madriaga about what the big game season looks like on the Western Slope.

One summer, when I was growing up, it was common to hear about sightings of the “northern lights” over Grand Mesa. Most of the stories came from high school kids staying out too late on dates. At the time, I scoffed at those stories, but have since learned that that summer happened to be during a particularly active sun cycle.

Albireo is a beautiful double star in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan.  If you heard the previous edition of Western Slope Skies, you learned about the Summer Triangle, which includes Deneb, the tail of Cygnus.  Albireo is the head of Cygnus and is dimmer than Deneb. 

Many stars have Arabic names dating back hundreds of years.  For example, Deneb means ‘tail.’  Because of the history involving several languages, the current name Albireo, while appearing to be Arabic, is actually meaningless.

As these early fall days grow shorter, our western slope skies are still dark at 6:00 AM.  So, this is a great time to see a celestial spectacle in the morning without having to get up too early.  From September 29 through October 7 the brilliant planet, Venus, often called the morning star, will be moving past Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo.