Starship Asterisk*

Halloween and the Ghost Head Nebula

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.

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Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Always curious how Halloween; All Saints; and All Souls day followed
each other on the calendar! Wikipedia!

orin stepanek wrote: ↑Sun Oct 24, 2021 11:47 am Always curious how Halloween; All Saints; and All Souls day followed
each other on the calendar!

It’s not a coincidence. It’s the ancient Celtic harvest festival of Samhain that was adapted by the Catholic Church for the purpose of honoring the dead.

Cousin Ricky wrote: ↑Sun Oct 24, 2021 4:18 pm

orin stepanek wrote: ↑Sun Oct 24, 2021 11:47 am Always curious how Halloween; All Saints; and All Souls day followed
each other on the calendar!

It’s not a coincidence. It’s the ancient Celtic harvest festival of Samhain that was adapted by the Catholic Church for the purpose of honoring the dead.

Most Catholic Holy Days (holidays) were intentionally placed on pagan festival/ritual days.

Halloween, Easter, Christmas and others. All pagan feasts later occupied by christian replacements. After the pagan temples got destroyed churches were build on the ruins and the new feasts were established so people would still come to the old holy place but get fed with a new religion.

We need more holidays! Pluto day!