Air traffic control will be busy this week, and it will be more than just ghosts, goblins, ladies in black riding brooms and possible Halloween drones.
Higher up in the heavens there will be a lot of action as well.
First of all, we have the famous, or some would say infamous Pleiades Star Cluster, also known as the Seven Little Sisters. This time of year it’s also referred to as the Halloween Cluster because it rises in the northeast early in the evening and climbs high over the Everett sky around the midnight hour. You can’t miss it, as it’s easily visible to the naked eye, resembling a miniature Big Dipper.
Astronomically the Pleiades is actually a group of more than 100 young stars — close to 410 light years away — that were born together out of a huge cloud of hydrogen gas 100 million years ago. By the way, if you’re new to this column, one light year equals nearly 6 trillion miles.
Many ancient people worshipped and feared the Pleiades because the cluster was associated with death. When it rose high in the sky around midnight this time of year, it was thought to be the appropriate time to honor the dead. Some cultures, like the early Egyptians, believed that whenever the Pleiades reached its zenith in the sky, natural disasters as well as manufactured ones like war could occur.
Probably the most sinister constellation on the rise is just above and to the left of the Pleiades, Perseus the Hero. Perseus himself is not all that scary, but it’s the monster’s head he’s toting with him, the evil Medusa, that gives me the shivers. According to Greek and Roman mythology, Perseus was dispatched by Zeus, the king of the gods, to rid the countryside of Medusa, a lady monster who was literally stoning the countryside.
Medusa was truly one of most horrible monsters. One look at this beast with a female face and a permanent bad hair day and you would instantly turn to stone. If Medusa, with hair consisting of dozens of poisonous snakes, came into your neighborhood you didn’t have worry about multiple snakebites because you’d be long gone before they ever got to you.
Medusa had to be stopped before all of humanity became stone cold. Perseus went in pursuit of the horrible monster. Armed with the wings of Mercury, the messenger of the gods, and the magic shield of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, he managed to kill Medusa by slicing off her snake-ridden head with his sword without actually looking at it himself. Don’t ask me how he pulled that off. It must have been Athena’s magical shield.
To honor Perseus the gods and goddesses placed his body in the stars as the constellation we see rising this Halloween week. With a little imagination, you can see a crooked stickman about halfway between the horizon and the overhead zenith in the northeastern skies. The Pleiades are just off his feet. As you look at the constellation be careful, however, because he’s still holding up Medusa’s severed head, marked by the fair bright star Algol. Be extra careful looking at that star if you want to eat that leftover Halloween candy.
We’ll have a growing crescent moon in the western sky as darkness sets that will add to the spooky ambiance of this Halloween week. By Halloween, however, the first quarter half-moon will help light your way with all the haunting going on. Have fun and stay safe.
Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist.
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