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Astronomy Picture of the Day - Halloween and the Ghost Head Nebula
APOD.NASA.gov ^ | 24 Oct, 2021 | Image Credit: Mohammad Heydari-Malayeri (Observatoire de Paris) et al., ESA, NASA

Posted on 10/24/2021 3:03:31 PM PDT by MtnClimber

Explanation: Halloween's origin is ancient and astronomical. Since the fifth century BC, Halloween has been celebrated as a cross-quarter day, a day halfway between an equinox (equal day / equal night) and a solstice (minimum day / maximum night in the northern hemisphere). With a modern calendar however, even though Halloween occurs next week, the real cross-quarter day will occur the week after. Another cross-quarter day is Groundhog Day. Halloween's modern celebration retains historic roots in dressing to scare away the spirits of the dead. Perhaps a fitting tribute to this ancient holiday is this view of the Ghost Head Nebula taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. Similar to the icon of a fictional ghost, NGC 2080 is actually a star forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way Galaxy. The Ghost Head Nebula (NGC 2080) spans about 50 light-years and is shown in representative colors.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: nasa
To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

1 posted on 10/24/2021 3:03:31 PM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 10/24/2021 3:03:49 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; abb; AFB-XYZ; America_Right; AZ .44 MAG; BBB333; ...
Pinging the APOD list.

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔


3 posted on 10/24/2021 3:04:22 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Frightful! Thanks for posting.


4 posted on 10/24/2021 3:24:49 PM PDT by NeverTyranny
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To: MtnClimber

That sort of looks like the United States in White with a large spot of wokeness in Seattle and NYC.


5 posted on 10/24/2021 3:25:17 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: MtnClimber

That is scary.


6 posted on 10/24/2021 3:25:45 PM PDT by DannyTN
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