Halloween Astronomy

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.

Here’s the list of targets that might be of interest to you. We’re going to cover 13 of these in greater detail.

  • Witch Head Nebula NGC 1909
  • Ghost Head Nebula
  • Witch's Broom Nebula NGC 6960
  • Bat Nebula
  • Cat’s Paw Nebula NGC 6334
  • Cat's Eye Nebula NGC 6543
  • Owl Nebula M97
  • Owl Cluster NGC 457
  • Flaming Skull Nebula
  • Skull Nebula NGC 246
  • The Vampire Star
  • X-ray Skull in Perseus Cluster
  • Demon Star Algol
  • Blinking Nebula NGC 6826
  • Ghost of Mirach NGC 404
  • Phantom Streak NGC 6741
  • Ghost of the Moon NGC 6781
  • Barnard's E(vil) Nebula
  • Specter Nebula NGC 1999
  • Little Ghost Nebula
  • The Spider and the Fly Nebula
  • Red Spider Nebula
  • Tarantula Nebula
  • Dragon’s Head Nebula
  • Horsehead Nebula
  • Ghost Nebula

Download the Halloween Astronomy packet here.

I've prepared a special packet of 26 objects that you can find, some are from the northern hemisphere, and others are found in the southern hemispheres. In the video above, we cover the first 13 objects, and encourage you to use Stellarium to help locate the rest of the objects!

Learn how to use Stellarium by watching the video below: