Looking up into a chilly night sky can offer rewards as big as the galaxy

By John Garvey

Summer is popularly considered stargazing season in Colorado for some obvious reasons: peak Milky Way visibility, warm (or tolerably cool) evenings, the annual Perseid meteor shower each August, and a number of well-attended stargazing festivals. But when you think about it, the idea of stargazing as a seasonal indulgence is odd, like choosing to only appreciate clouds or classical music three months out of the year.

Stars actually twinkle less in the winter, but if this makes stargazing sound less enchanting, think again.

“As far as the general conditions of stargazing, you have … crisper, steadier skies because there’s less moisture, less warm air moving to create atmospheric disturbance,” says astronomy guide Mark Laurin. “So it’s cleaner, clearer and steadier so the objects are sharper.”

Laurin runs a stargazing business in Summit County and also works as a dark sky mentor for DarkSky Colorado, assisting municipalities and parks to successfully complete the rigorous Dark Sky Certification process. He has assisted four communities pursuing Dark Sky Certification, including Breckenridge, which last August became the first mountain ski resort community in Colorado to achieve certification.

A word of warning before we delve further into the beauty of the winter night sky: Stargazing is not skiing.

“Probably the most important thing for winter stargazing is trying to dress warmly enough,” notes astronomer Greg Halac, outreach coordinator for the Northern Colorado Astronomical Society (NoCo Astro) in Fort Collins. “People think, ‘Oh, it’s 20 degrees out, it’s not bad.’ Well, it’s brutal when you’re just standing there and not generating any body heat.”

As far as convenience goes, however, it’s a bit of a draw between winter and summer stargazing.

“On the plus side, it gets dark early,” Halac says. “In the summer, it’s not truly dark until about 10:30 at night,” but in midwinter, it gets dark enough for stargazing well before bedtime.

Conjunction Junction: The Planets

Halac reckons that the planets and winter constellations are the best reasons for midwinter stargazing. “This year, one of the highlights is going to be Jupiter,” he says. “It’s going to be nice and high in the sky … into late spring.”

While Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus (a.k.a., The Morning Star) are all easily visible and impressive throughout the winter, there will be several dates in February when two or more planets or major stars will appear strikingly close together—a rewarding sight called a conjunction.

A non-literal definition of a conjunction is when two or more large celestial objects are close enough together that you can hold a lime out at arm’s length and cover them.

Some of the best opportunities for stargazing and astronomical observation present themselves in the early morning hours before sunrise. So first, stargazing isn’t just a summer thing; and just as importantly, it’s for larks as well as owls.

Constellations, Nebulae, and Asterisms – Oh my!

“There’s no other area in the night sky where it’s so easy and accessible to see where stars are formed than the Orion Nebula, which is a winter occurrence,” Laurin says.

The Orion Nebula – a star nursery in the approximate location of Orion’s right knee – is visible with the naked eye throughout the winter and early spring. (A star nursery is an area of space where stars form. Cute mental imagery, mindblowing reality.)

“The nebula in Orion is definitely worth seeing,” agrees Halac. “Even in a small telescope, it looks pretty nice.”

Finally, the Winter Hexagon is an amazing and comparatively easy asterism (or pattern of stars) to identify. This giant hexagon, which spreads like a blanket over the majority of the night sky, is made up of the six alpha stars in six constellations: Rigel (from the constellation Orion), Capella (Auriga constellation), Pollux (Gemini), Procyon (Canis Minor) Sirius (Canus Major), and Aldebaran (Taurus).

Basically, look for the 10 or so most outrageously large stars, eliminate Betelgeuse and Orion’s Belt, and you’ve got your Winter Hexagon.

Total Lunar Eclipse!

If you forget everything else, mark your calendar for March 2. The biggest astronomical event of the first quarter of 2026 will be a total lunar eclipse on March 2-3. Halac says this will start around 10 p.m. and will phase out in the early morning hours of March 3.

DO Look Up

Finally, don’t be daunted by the idea that you have to wear 17 layers to stargaze in the winter months. The night sky (setting aside the rampant and underregulated light pollution along Colorado’s Front Range) is always accessible.

“When it comes to stargazing in the winter and the spring …, it doesn’t matter if you walk outside for five minutes, for 15 minutes, for 30 minutes or an hour,” states Laurin. “The minute you walk out there and look up and be still, the universe will captivate you.”

There is perhaps no better way to reassure yourself that the sky is not going to fall on you than to spend 15 minutes under the spell of a starry sky.

“I’ve spent a lot of time under the night sky with a lot of people,” Laurin continues. “And people are different when they’re under a dark sky staring up. They ask meaningful questions. They let down their guards.

“And I think that shared experience – whether it’s in storytelling, whether it’s in prayers, whether it’s in music, dance – you know, we share that experience throughout humanity, with shepherds, poets, astronomers, dreamers, forlorn lovers.

“I think that’s why we gotta get people to go out and look up.”

Peak night sky events Winter/Spring 2026

Feb 16: Saturn and Neptune conjunction, visible around 8:30-9 p.m., though you’ll need a telescope to see Neptune

Feb 28: Six planets – Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn, Neptune, Venus and Mercury – will align in the night sky an hour or two after sunset. With only two exceptions – Uranus and Neptune – the planets will be visible to the naked eye.

March 2-3: Total Lunar eclipse

March 7-8: Conjunction of Venus and Saturn

April 15-29: Lyrids meteor shower, peaking around April 22.

April 22: Conjunction of Jupiter and the Moon

June 8-9: Conjunction of Venus and Jupiter (this one is particularly striking and worthwhile)

Other notes and extended viewing opportunities:

Orion: The most prominent constellation in the sky, Orion is easily visible with the naked eye – but only in the winter.

Casiopea: The Casiopea constellation is visible throughout the winter, as are the Pleiades and many other winter star clusters.

For those unable to view the planetary alignment when it peaks on Feb. 28, dates leading up to and following the peak will provide many opportunities to view multiple planets at once. There will also be several worthwhile conjunctions, as noted above.

Venus: Venus, nicknamed “The Morning Star,” will be visible after sunset this time of year. It is the brightest planet viewed from Earth.

NoCo Astro remains active throughout the winter, with at least two public events a months. These typically include at least one “moon night” with full or nearly full moon, and one new moon night event with greater star visibility.

Check out their calendar.

This story is from our winter 2025-2026 issue. Read the entire issue online here, and find our full magazine archive here.