Saturday: Halloween.
The pumpkins. The candy. The children going door-to-door dressed up as their
favorite astronomers Hypatia and Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi. At least they should because
Halloween is, in part, an astronomical holiday. Halloween is a “cross-quarter
date”, a day approximately midway between an equinox and a solstice.
Historically, the Celts of the British Isles used cross-quarter dates as the
beginnings of seasons. For the Celts, winter began with Halloween. So when all
those little Hypatias and al-Khwarizmis come to your door tonight night, honor
the Celts and give them a wintry treat. If they ask you for a trick, point out Saturn,
a half fist above the southwest horizon at 6:30 p.m.
When you
are done eating your candy, don’t forget to “fall back”. Before you fall back
on to your bed, set your clock back one hour to the real time. Daylight savings
ends early Sunday morning at 2 a.m. This means one more hour of sky watching at
night because the Sun will set one hour earlier. Ben Franklin proposed the idea
of “saving daylight” by adjusting our clocks way back in 1784. Daylight savings
time was first utilized during World War I as a way to save electricity. After
the war, it was abandoned. It was reintroduced during World War II on a
year-round basis. From 1945 to 1966, some areas implemented daylight savings
and some did not. Also, it was not implemented with any uniformity as to when
it should start and stop. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 codified the daylight
savings rules.
Sunday: Happy
Celtic New Year! Many historians think that November 1, known for the festival
of Samhain, was the ancient Celtic New Year’s Day. Samhain, Old Irish for
“summer’s end”, was a harvest festival that may have contributed to some of the
customs of our current “holiday” of Halloween.
Monday: After
spending time in the sky in close proximity to Jupiter, Mars is spending some
quality time with Venus. At 6 a.m., Mars and Venus are about three fists above
the southeast horizon with Mars being about a pinky width to the left of Venus.
Jupiter is about a half a fist above the pair.
Tuesday: Looking
for an early Christmas gift for that special someone? Get them a calendar. No,
not a beach volleyball calendar. Everyone wants that and I said this was for
someone special. I’m talking about the Spitzer calendar. This calendar features
the twelve most notable discoveries and memorable images of NASA’s infrared
Spitzer Space Telescope. Images include the Orion Nebula, the Sombrero Galaxy,
and the Zeta Ophiuchi Bow Shock. Go to http://goo.gl/FTzM8a to read more about the
calendar and download your free copy.
Wednesday:
Lacerta, the faint lizard constellation, is straight overhead at 8 p.m. It was
named by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in 1687 to fill the space
between the much brighter and well-defined constellations Pegasus, Andromeda,
Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Cygnus going clockwise from the constellation just
south of Lacerta. Chinese know this group of stars as a flying serpent or dragon.
Thursday: What
do Justin Bieber and Betelgeuse have in common? Both are superstars. One will
shine brightly for about a few hundred thousand more years. The other will only
seem to be around for that long. Baby, baby, baby, ohh, you need to learn more
about Betelgeuse, the real super giant star that is big enough to hold about
one million Suns. For more information about Betelgeuse, go to http://goo.gl/0MyfHT. You’ll
find it one fist above due east at 11 p.m.
Friday: The
open star cluster called the Pleiades is three fists above due east at 8 p.m.
The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky,
go to http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.
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