Hey Space Placers!
Did you know that Halloween is an astronomical holiday https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/halloween-derived-from-ancient-celtic-cross-quarter-day?utm_source=EarthSky+News&utm_campaign=6c1d52234c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_02_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c643945d79-6c1d52234c-394691157 ?
October 31st is the traditional half way point between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice. The Sun gets lower in the sky each day at local noon and the hours of darkness continue to increase with the indicators of Fall all around us.
Halloween is also a time when stories of people seeing “ghost lights” in the sky, including the Blue Ridge Parkway by the way, make their way into our psyche https://earthsky.org/human-world/ghost-lights-believe-in-them-if-you-dare/?mc_cid=2cbc8a2fc0&mc_eid=9aeb2a4318 .
We are looking at record warmth today and clouds are forecast for tonight https://wtop.com/weather/ . There may be “Sucker Holes” - gaps in the clouds that allow us to see the sky.
After sunset on “Astroween” brilliant Venus greets our view low in the Southwest…you can’t miss it. Mercury is to the lower right but very low on the horizon. High in the South yellowish Saturn gleams. At 9 PM in the East, low on the horizon, you will see another bright “star”, the brightest in the sky. This is the planet Jupiter. Just to the upper right of Jupiter over a fist-width to the upper right is the beautiful star cluster, the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters. Reddish Mars becomes visible in the East after midnight.
If you are able to find a dark sky site the Milky Way is visible in the Southwest and arches overhead with the Summer Triangle https://nineplanets.org/the-summer-triangle/ . Shenandoah National Park https://www.nps.gov/shen/index.htm is a great place to see the glorious Milky Way. You can get updates on the Park’s status at their website. I’ll be at Big Meadows Lodge tonight for my “Let’s Talk About Space” presentation https://www.goshenandoah.com/activities-events/astronomy/space , “The Universe and You”.
You may have heard of “it may be really bright Halloween Comet”. Well, our star, the Sun, destroyed it http://www.whatsupthespaceplace.com/2024/10/no-halloween-comet.html October 28th.
Remember the “Spooky Halloween Asteroid” of 2015
https://wtop.com/the-space-place/2015/10/spooky-sighting-in-the-skies-beginning-halloween-night/ ? THAT was something to see when the radar images showed it to resemble a human skull!
As an extra Halloween treat be sure to enjoy this marvelous collection of ghoulish posters courtesy of NASA https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/alien-worlds/galaxy-of-horrors/ and scary space sounds https://soundcloud.com/nasa/sets/sinister-sounds-of-the-solar .
To be a bit more astro-spooky, check out the story of the “Demon Star” https://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/algol-the-demon-star/?utm_source=EarthSky+News&utm_campaign=0f8cc3c7ac-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_02_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c643945d79-0f8cc3c7ac-394691157 and find it for yourself in the Northeastern sky.
When you are back home enjoying your “spoils”, here are some spooky space flicks to enjoy https://www.space.com/best-space-horror-movies . I would add wonderfully scary “Europa Report” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2BfobyYOmU , and “Red Planet” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpF691nGMW8 ….boooooooooo!
Oh, and enjoy my pic of the "Skull Nebula"!
Sky Guy in VA
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