Nan at Night by Nancy Hoyt
-Thursday the 29th: The moon is covered with oceans, lakes, and seas. You can see many of them tonight as the gibbous moon sails high across the south. They form the dark blue-gray spots on the lunar surface. They are “seas” not of water, though, but of volcanic rock.
-Friday the 30th: A demon star rises in the northeast around sunset tonight: Algol, in the constellation Perseus. Its name comes from the Arabic name Ra’s all Ghul, “the demon’s head.” The Greeks called the star Medusa, after a menacing creature whose hair was a mass of writhing snakes.
-Saturday the 31st: Happy Halloween! Today is Halloween, which is a “cross-quarter” day. These dates, which fall roughly half-way between a solstice and an equinox, mark the middle of the seasons on the modern calendar. In ancient times, though, they often represented a season’s beginning.
-Sunday the 1st: Although November is the eleventh month of the year, its name means ninth month because in the earliest Roman calendar the year began with March. To the ancient Celts, however, November 1 was the start of a new year, which was celebrated with a festival known as Samhain. Mars passes through M44, the Beehive Cluster, in the constellation Cancer. They stand high in the south at first light. Through binoculars, the cluster looks like a swarm of stars around the bright planet.
-Monday the 2nd: The Hunter’s Moon highlights the sky tonight. In most years the Harvest moon comes in September, with the Hunter’s Moon in October. But this year October’s full Moon was closer to the fall equinox, so both the Harvest and Hunter’s moons were pushed back a month. he November moon is most commonly known as the Frost Moon or Snow Moon.
-Also on the 2nd: The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is scheduled for launch today. A small infrared telescope will snap a picture of a small region of the sky every 11 seconds. Over six months, this will produce a map of the entire infrared sky, with more than 1.5 million pictures. WISE will search for cool, nearby stars, study giant galaxies and examine both our own solar system and planetary systems around other stars.
-Tuesday the 3rd: Spica, the brightest star of Virgo, aligns just to the right of Venus, the brilliant “morning star,” low in the eastern sky about 45 minutes before sunrise.
-Wednesday the 4th: Today, the star Alpheratz belongs solely to Andromeda, the princess. But it once was shared with Pegasus, the flying horse. The star is high in the east in early evening, at the lower left corner of a large square of four bright stars.
-Thursday the 5th: Cassiopeia the queen sits high in the northeast at nightfall this week. The constellation represents a woman sitting on a throne, although its brightest stars look more like the letter “M” or “W.”
This Sunday is November 1st, presently known as All Saints Day. The mysteries surrounding this day are many. Astronomically, it is one of the cross-quarter days, marking the halfway point between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice. In many beliefs reaching back to ancient times, this was actually the beginning of the winter season. The Celts called it Samhain and honored it as a deeply significant day. It was considered their New Year’s Day and the beginning of the dark half of the year, relating intimately to the end of harvest and death. Many customs and practices grew up around Samhain, including, setting a place at the table for deceased ancestors, as well as the dousing and relighting of household fires. Bonfires were ceremoniously lit from which the relighting of these fires would occur. Often the flame was carried home in a hollowed out squash or “pumpkin.” Enjoy this magical day!
