Mon Nov 3, 2025 CROSS QUARTER DAY
We have now reached the final cross-quarter day in our calendar. The quarter days mark each season’s beginning: March 21st for spring; June 21st for summer; September 21st for autumn; and December 21st for winter. The cross-quarter days divide each of these seasons in half: February 2nd, which is winter’s midpoint, called Imbolc by the ancient Celts; and in old calendars it was called Candlemas. Not too long ago, it also picked up the name Groundhog’s Day. May 1st is the midpoint for spring and was called Bealtane. August 1st, the middle of summer, was called Lunasadh or Lammas; and two days ago, November 1st, marked All Saints Day in the Church calendar, but also Samhain, the beginning of the ancient Druid year. Samhain is a late harvest occasion, when the last of the crops are brought in.
Tue Nov 4, 2025 HARLOW SHAPLEY
In the southwest this evening there is a concentration of globular star clusters which you can only see with a telescope. Each cluster contains thousands and thousands of stars packed in tight by gravity. Globular star clusters are all around us, but about half of them are gathered into one small spot in the sky, near the constellation Sagittarius. An astronomer named Harlow Shapley, born on November 2nd, in 1885, realized the significance of this clustering of clusters. In 1920 he suggested that because the globular clusters seemed to be centered around Sagittarius, that it was probable that that marked the center of the Milky Way galaxy. He was right – our solar system is part of the Milky Way, but we’re not in the middle of it, we’re a little over halfway out toward its edge.
Wed Nov 5, 2025 NOVEMBER FULL MOON
The moon is full tonight. This is the Hunter’s Moon, so-called because hunters in colonial America found its light useful when pursuing dinner in the dark. The Celts called it the Dark Moon, which recognizes the lengthening of the night as winter approaches. The Creek Indians say this is the Moon When the Water is Black with Leaves, as in northern lands when leaves would drop from the trees and darken ponds and rivers. The Mandan Hidatsa people must have lived farther north, as this was their Moon When Rivers Freeze. To the Tewa Pueblo this is the Moon When All is Gathered In - the late harvesting moon. It’s the Cherokee Trading Moon, and the Choctaw Sassafras Moon. But the Seneca Indians of western New York would call this the Beaver moon, in honor of Jonito Amo’chk the beaver who, with the help of the fly, drove off the always thirsty Oyandon’e the moose, thus saving the drinking water for the other animals.
Thu Nov 6, 2025 MESSIER’S FALL
Today was the beginning of a very bad year for Charles Messier. On November 6th, 1781, the French astronomer fell down a flight of stairs. It took him over a year to recover from his injuries, but then Messier got back to work, making successful observations of the planet Mercury and then going on to discover over a dozen comets in his career. He also made a list of deep sky objects that still bear his catalog numbers, all beginning with the letter M – M, for Messier. There’s M1, the Crab Nebula, which marks the spot where a star exploded a thousand years ago; or M13, a globular star cluster in Hercules; or the Great Orion Nebula, M42. Then there’s M31 – the Andromeda Galaxy! Messier also managed to survive the French revolution and subsequent reign of terror, and was awarded the Cross of the Legion of Honor in 1806 by the Emperor Napoleon.
Fri Nov 7, 2025 PLANETARIUM SHOW: SATURN, JEWEL OF THE HEAVENS
The planet Saturn appears in our eastern sky this evening, and will be hanging out there for the rest of this month. It appears as a yellow-tinged starlike object in the constellation Pisces. So tonight and tomorrow the Hallstrom Planetarium will be present a show about the ringed planet. “Saturn, Jewel of the Heavens,” highlights the remarkable discoveries that have been made about it. We’ll fly above Saturn, we’ll sail below its rings, we’ll pass its moons and even land on its largest one, Titan, the only other world we know of with a nitrogen atmosphere like earth’s – except this nitrogen is so cold that it also forms slush lakes that flow across Titan’s surface. And, if skies are clear tonight the Treasure Coast Astronomical Society will be on hand to provide guided views of Saturn in the real sky, weather permitting. Call Indian River State College Box office at 772-462-4750 for tickets.
