It's the time for ghosts and goblins, with signs of Halloween in the night sky all week long. The following is a list of some of my favorite night-time sights this haunted time of year:

The bright star Arcturus

This is a good Halloween star because of its orange, pumpkin color. It can easily be seen early in the evening. As soon as it's dark enough, look for it just above the low west-northwest horizon. Astronomically, Arcturus is 37 light years away (one light year is nearly six trillion miles).

The Andromeda Galaxy

This ghostly image will require binoculars or a small telescope to see, unless you're far away from city lights, but even then it will appear as a faint cloud patch. The Andromeda Galaxy, the next door neighbor to the Milky Way Galaxy, is a mere 2.5 million light years away and is perched in the eastern evening sky. As you see in the diagram, it's above the constellation Andromeda, which is attached to the great square of the constellation Pegasus the Winged Horse.

The Milky Way Band

All of the stars we see in the night sky are part of the Milky Way Galaxy, and if you're away from city lights, you'll see a band of light running roughly from the northern horizon, through the zenith, onto the southern horizon. This band is made up of the combined light of billions of stars.

My favorite Milky Way lore comes from Native American tribes. They considered the band of light to be the collective light of the campfires of souls taking a break for the night on their way to heaven.

The Pleiades star cluster

This is my favorite Halloween treat in the sky. Just look in the low east-northeastern sky this week after 9 p.m. and you'll spot it as it's on the rise.

The Pleiades are also called the "Seven Little Sisters Cluster" because according to Greek mythology, these seven stars represented the seven weeping daughters of the old god Atlas, who was forced to hold the whole world up on his shoulders. Even though it's called the Seven Little Sisters, there are only six stars of the cluster you can easily see with the naked eye.

Mars

If you're really out for a full night of Halloween chills and thrills, look for a moderately bright, orange-red, star-like object on the rise in the low eastern sky. That's Mars, on its way for another close encounter with Earth early next year. Mars and the Earth will be approaching each other in the next few months as they sling around the sun in their own individual orbits. Right now, Mars and Earth are separated by more than 113 million miles, but by late January, Mars will be less than 67 million miles away.

The moon and Jupiter

This celestial treat is special for tonight only. Before it's completely dark, look for the football-shaped moon right next to a bright Jupiter in the southeastern sky -- separated by only three degrees in the sky.

With a small telescope or even a pair of binoculars, look for the disk of the largest planet in our solar system, and maybe even a few of its horizontal cloud bands of methane, sulfur and ammonia. You also should be able to see some of Jupiter's brighter Galilean moons that resemble tiny stars in a line on either side of the great planet.

After tonight, the moon will move farther and farther to the east of Jupiter.

Have a wonderful, spooky Halloween week.

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and author of the book "Minnesota Starwatch," available at bookstores and at his Web site, www.lynchandthestars.com.

There are 0 comments - Display All Comments