October’s Night time Sky: The Final Halloween Occasion
Come one, come all to witness the final word Halloween occasion hosted by our evening sky! Admission is free and the doorways by no means shut. Simply take a step outdoors tonight and lookup into the spectacular evening sky. A present that has been working for the reason that starting of time.
As October’s chill evening air creeps within the darkness crawls in earlier with every passing night, decorations begin to seem for the hallowed eve.
October is the place the magic will not be solely round us however above us too, because the evening sky transforms for this spectacular stellar present.
A couple of suggestions to get the most effective expertise from this excellent stellar present:
As at all times enable your eyes round 20 minutes to regulate to the darkish sky. Attempt to hold telephone use to a minimal as this can have an effect on your eyes, and will take longer for them to regulate.
This present is out there anyplace and all over the place making it extraordinarily accessible. Nevertheless, if anybody lives in a busy metropolis like Belfast or Dublin, you’ll know that stargazing from busier cities could be extraordinarily restricted with how a lot mild air pollution is created. If that is so and you reside in a busy metropolis, it will be price whereas heading to a location with much less mild air pollution.
First up now we have the principle attraction of this entire occasion, the Harvest (Hunters) moon. Whereas September’s full moon is often referred to as the harvest moon, this 12 months the complete moon in October seems nearer to the autumnal equinox than September making October the Harvest moon and September the Corn moon. It’s also referred to as the Hunter’s moon as a result of it marked the time of 12 months when individuals would historically hunt animals for meals and retailer meat for the approaching winter months when prey can be scarce.
It’s going to solid its luminous glow over us on October 7th simply after 3am (GMT). It’s going to even be the primary supermoon of 2025 that means it’s glow will seem bigger and brighter than regular. A supermoon is when a full moon is at or close to its closest level to earth in its elliptical orbit.
For the most effective viewing expertise of this excellent attraction (the Harvest moon) strive watching it round sundown when it seems close to the horizon. Throughout this time the moon will seem bigger and also will seem to tackle a beautiful orange hue. Giving us all of the Halloween vibes.
It’s possible you’ll ask “Why does the moon seem bigger on the Horizon” properly the reply to that will disappoint…..no person actually is aware of! That is one thing known as “The Moon Phantasm”. There is no such thing as a precise reply to this however there are a lot of theories. The final idea is how our mind perceives and interprets visible data. So, when issues like mountains, buildings or bushes encompass the view of the moon our mind interprets that the moon is additional away making it seem bigger on account of different objects round it showing smaller. When its excessive within the sky surrounded by stars it seems remoted and smaller. But it surely by no means really modifications in dimension – it’s simply an phantasm. A cool trick to take this impact away and see that the moon by no means modifications in dimension is to place your thumb as much as the moon when it’s low on the horizon after which once more when it’s excessive within the sky and this can present you that it’s at all times the identical dimension.
Picture Credit score: What is a Hunter’s Moon? – Universe Today
The rationale it’ll seem orange is similar to what occurs throughout a sundown. Its mild should cross by extra of earth’s environment on account of it being low on the horizon which can scatter the shorter wavelength of sunshine (blue mild) by the environment and go away the longer wavelength of sunshine (purple mild and orange mild) to succeed in our eyes and dominate.
Subsequent up in our array of points of interest now we have a fantastic meteor bathe!
At first of the month (October 6th-10th) we may have the Draconids meteor bathe which can attain its peak on October 8th.
Nevertheless, most of its present will probably be overshadowed by the principle attraction, the supermoon. The moonlight from the supermoon will make it tough to view this minor meteor bathe. Though it gained’t be utterly unviewable, the most effective time to see this a part of the stellar present is at its peak on October 8th simply because the solar units and the moon is simply starting to rise.
A highlight act telling their ghostly tales and a private favorite of mine is the celebrities however extra particularly constellations and what lies inside them.
There are 88 official constellations within the evening sky, and plenty of of them could be seen throughout October however one among my favourites and a really distinguished constellation within the October evening sky is Pegasus.
Pegasus has famously been related to Hercules, as proven within the Disney movie. Nevertheless, the traditional Greeks had been very inventive and had a really completely different story to inform.
Pegasus was a winged white horse born from the neck of Medusa when she was slain by Perseus. He was fathered by Poseidon. He then grew to become the steed of Bellerophon used to defeat the Chimera monster. After efficiently defeating the Chimera and plenty of different missions Bellerophon obtained too large for his boots and tried to hitch the Gods on Mount Olympus. He failed on this process and fell again to earth. Pegasus nonetheless, carried on and made it and for some time was a servant to Zeus, used to hold his lightning bolts. To honour Pegasus Zeus then positioned him within the evening sky among the many stars.
Picture Credit score: The Story Behind the Constellation Pegasus | Precious Minds
The “Nice sq. of Pegasus” is an simply recognisable asterism inside this constellation and can be utilized to assist spot Pegasus. An asterism is a distinguished star sample, a part of a constellation. This asterism kinds the torso of Pegasus and is made up of 4 vivid stars. The primary three stars are from Pegasus, Alpha Pegasi (Markab), Beta Pegasi (Scheat) and Gamma Pegasi (Algenib). The final star is now thought-about to be a part of the constellation Andromeda; this star is known as Alpha Andromedae and though it’s from one other constellation it’s nonetheless part of the asterism and remains to be referred to as the stomach button of the horse.
Picture Credit score: The Story Behind the Constellation Pegasus | Precious Minds
It will be significant to know that many cultures around the globe have their very own tales behind every constellation.
Now that is solely a style of what this final Halloween occasion has to supply! To see extra why not come alongside to our 2pm ‘Our Night time Sky’ present working Tuesday-Sunday the place we’ll go into extra element about this extraordinary occasion and what secrets and techniques lie past.
