|
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
|
OP
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30 |
Halloween falls midway between an equinox and a solstice. In the ancient Celtic world it was new year's eve and start of winter - time to prepare for survival in the darkening days. But also a time when the boundary between our world and the otherworld weakened. Who knew what might cross it? This article also looks at the origin a few traditions that persist around the modern Halloween.
Last edited by Mona - Astronomy; 10/24/14 01:36 PM.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
|
OP
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30 |
Here's a very spooky aurora photograph taken at almost exactly this time last year.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
|
OP
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30 |
Nebulae often get names based on a shape astronomers see. Being great clouds of gas and dust, they can be all kinds of evocative shapes. This one is called the Ghost Nebula and it looks quite ghostly. It doesn't take much imagination to see two scared figures trying to run away, as well. EEK!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
|
OP
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30 |
Take a Cosmic Halloween Tour . . . if you dare! You'll actually be pretty safe, as the nearest object in this tour is millions of miles away. Even this really scary-looking thing turns out to be nothing more than an X-ray image of a cluster of galaxies. We have such vivid imaginations!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
|
OP
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30 |
Seemingly, a giant ghostly hand reaching for a ring of fire. But it's actually the nebula created by a pulsar, a rapidly spinning neutron star. It's in the constellation Circinus, and was imaged by the Chandra X-ray Observatory
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
|
OP
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30 |
Cosmic Ghosts Ghouls and Vampires Astronomers use colorful language for cosmic objects. But unlike ghosts, ghouls and vampires in horror stories, the cosmic ones aren't scary late at night. Here are tales of the birth, evolution and death of stars, a blinking demon and a star that, at Halloween, seems like the Sun's ghost.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
|
OP
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30 |
This is a picture of a planetary nebula. It's a nebula formed from the outer layers of a sunlike star that's nearing the end of its life. You can find out more about this in The Life and Death of the Sun. Following the Halloween theme, I'll warn you that it does somewhat resemble a one-eyed grinning skull.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
|
OP
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30 |
I love this carved pumpkin that shows Rosetta and Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. What fun. And how clever.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We take forum safety very seriously here at BellaOnline. Please be sure to read through our Forum Guidelines. Let us know if you have any questions or comments!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This forum uses cookies to ensure smooth navigation from page to page of a thread. If you choose to register and provide your email, that email is solely used to get your password to you and updates on any topics you choose to watch. Nothing else. Ask with any questions!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|