Suppose you were an astronomer and someone offered you, at no cost, two giant mirrors for telescopes in space, each valued at more than 250 million dollars. Sound too good to be true? It actually happened at NASA. In January 2011, the National Reconnaissance Office, a U.S. spy agency, offered NASA two, surplus 94-inch diameter telescope mirrors with related hardware. At that time, NASA was planning a space telescope with a 52 inch- diameter main mirror called WFIRST, an acronym that stood for Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope. A larger mirror exactly matching NASA’s needs would greatly enhance the scientific return from such a telescope. So, in 2012 NASA revised the plan to use one of these 94-inch diameter mirrors. After more than a decade of development, this telescope was launched into space on August 30, 2026.

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Western Slope writer Craig Childs was in New York that day. He sat down with KVNF’s Brody Wilson this week to reflect on what he experienced, two and half decades later.

Your weekly regional science update.

KVNF's Music Team puts together a biweekly list of music we keep coming back to. This is music we can't get enough of right now.

The Delta Egyptian Theater is planning a daylong celebration of filmmaking and filmmakers from across the Western Slope. T

Dave Frank resigned from Montrose City Council on Tuesday, siting stress and conflict among councilors. The resignation comes amid tensions over proposed city charter changes.

Had Donald Trump been president in 1973, when Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act into federal law, the Gunnison sage-grouse would be extinct. Close to 90 percent of all Gunnison sage-grouse remaining on the planet are in the Gunnison River Basin of west-central Colorado. The rest are in Utah. They’ve been extirpated from Arizona and New Mexico.The species is critically endangered in fact, if not by official decree. It is protected by the Act as just “threatened” because the Interior Department lost a lawsuit brought by Gunnison County, the states of Utah and Colorado, and ranching, livestock and energy-development interests.

We all tell stories of how ourselves, others or the world should or should not be. When we look at the energy behind these shoulds, we find a lot of judgment. These shoulds compare an ideal image or perception to what reality is and we often perceive the actual reality as being less desired.

KVNF’s Top Spin is a spotlight on the most-played album in the past 6 weeks by our DJs.