Let’s go star gazing for Halloween!
Halloween needs more Galileos, Keplers and Sir Isaac Newtons knocking on doors and asking for sweets to remind us of the scientific discoveries that made our current understanding of the universe possible.
Without scientific breakthroughs, we would still be wondering why magnets work, puzzling how birds fly, and getting spooked by the eerie aurorae!
This Halloween, I’ve put together a list of Halloween-themed astronomical targets for you. You can discover more about the cosmos by exploring many Halloween-themed astronomical objects in the night sky. Let’s go outside, look up, and learn what it is we’re looking at.
This was Kent Wallace’s favorite virtual astronomy tour that we did together, so we are honoring his legacy by re-publishing it here for you to enjoy.
Download printable handout here.
The video below covers the first 13 objects in our list, and was recorded by Aurora Lipper & Kent Wallace. We hope you enjoy it!
✨A Closer Look at Some Spooky Celestial Objects ✨
Witch Head Nebula (NGC 1909 / IC 2118)
Shaped like the profile of a cackling witch, this faint nebula lurks near the bright star Rigel in Orion. The bluish glow comes from starlight reflecting off interstellar dust about 900 light years away. Under dark skies, you can even spot this cosmic witch with binoculars.
Cat’s Eye Nebula (NGC 6543)
Discovered in 1786, this planetary nebula in Draco is one of the first nebulae ever identified as made of glowing gas, not faint stars. Its eerie greenish “eye” stares back at us from 3,000 light years away, a dying star shedding its outer layers.
Owl Nebula (M97)
Peer through a telescope in Ursa Major and you’ll see two ghostly dark patches that resemble owl eyes. This planetary nebula is the remnant of a sun-like star, now a white dwarf, surrounded by a shell of glowing gas drifting 4,100 light years from Earth.
Skull Nebula (NGC 246)
This haunting nebula in Cetus is about 1,500 light years away. Its faint, round glow peppered with embedded stars really does give the impression of a cosmic skull staring out from the depths of space.
Demon Star (Algol)
Nicknamed after a mythological demon, Algol in Perseus dims and brightens every 59 hours as one star in this binary system eclipses the other. Ancient cultures found this flickering unsettling — and it’s easy to see why!
Next time you’re under the stars this year, see how many of these spooky sights you can track down. From witches to owls, demons to skulls, the night sky has plenty of tricks and treats waiting to be discovered!