Mon Oct 26, 2026 OCTOBER FULL MOON
The moon was full last night. When it rises in the early evening tonight, you might be able to see a little bit of shading along its western limb when you look at it with binoculars. 0ctober’s full moon is known as the Hunter’s Moon, because hunters in colonial America found its light useful when pursuing dinner in the dark. This is also the Sioux Indians’ Moon of Falling Leaves; the Big Wind Moon of the Zuni tribes; or the Cheyenne’s Moon When the Water Begins to Freeze on the edge of the Stream - must be getting cold up north. The Ponca Indians, in observance of the time when food is harvested for the winter, call this the Moon When They Store Food in Caches, while the Kiowa simply call it the Ten Colds Moon, a harbinger of the freezing weather that follows. October’s full moon was also called the Blood Moon in medieval England, a reference to the reddish coloring often displayed by the rising full moon of October.
Tue Oct 27, 2026 CHANDRASEKHAR AND BLACK HOLES
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, born on October 19th, 1910, was the astronomer who figured out just how massive a star had to be in order to turn into a black hole. If a star is one and a half to almost two and a half times more massive than our sun, when it dies, it explodes and becomes a supernova, then collapses to become a neutron star. But if a star has over 2.4 times the sun’s mass, the final gravitational collapse is so powerful that the star doesn’t blow up – it blows in to become a black hole! The imploding star shrinks down to a singularity, a point of ridiculously high density. We can’t see black holes directly, but we know that they are out there, because as their gravity pulls matter in, x-rays are released, which escape the hole’s event horizon, the point of no return.
Wed Oct 28, 2026 LASER SHOW PROMO OCT 26
Today’s Skywatch was written by planetarium assistant Vela De la Mare. Looking to have some otherworldly fun this weekend? The Hallstrom Planetarium is all decorated for Halloween and ready to celebrate the season with the fabled return of our electrifying laser shows. This Friday and Saturday only, don’t miss our spooky scary setlist, with our chilling Halloween mixtape Fright Light, a custom Awesome Mix featuring a little bit of everything, and, of course, our signature Dark Side of the Moon. Tickets are sold per album, and are available to purchase from irsc.edu/planetarium, by calling the box office at 772-462-4750, or from the gift shop an hour before showtime, if seats still remain. Costumes are very much encouraged; come and see the light!
Thu Oct 29, 2026 SPOOKY CETUS
Today’s Skywatch was written by planetarium assistant Vela De la Mare. An eerie star pattern stalks our October sky. It is the fourth-largest constellation of them all, Cetus, the fearsome sea monster, who was sent to devour the chained princess Andromeda. Safely immortalized within the stars, we can peer a little closer and uncover more spooky sights hiding within. Towards Cetus’s tail, an uncanny figure resides almost 1,600 light years away. It’s a spectral cloud of swirling dust, with dark patches that look all-too-much like eyes and a mouth, hence the nickname, the Skull Nebula. Let’s look little further East, towards the belly of the beast, for our last enigma. It’s the star Mira, from Latin “Miraculous,” so named for its fascinating variability. We can watch it pulse from faint and dim, like it appears now, to bright and beautiful as the winter ensues.
Fri Oct 30, 2026 STAR CREATURES OF THE NIGHT
If you’re out trick or treating tonight or tomorrow, and the skies are dark and clear, you’ll be able to see some constellations that are suited for Halloween. The three stars in the summer triangle overhead, represent man-eating birds that were chased from the Stymphalian swamps by the hero Hercules. At sunset, the constellation of Scorpius the scorpion is sinking into the southwest. A scattering of stars in the southeast this evening mark the location of Cetus the Whale – a sea monster in Greek mythology. Perseus the hero, over in the northeast, holds out the snake-haired head of the gorgon Medusa, while Draco the dragon guards the northern skies tonight. And after midnight, Canis Major rises in the southeast. He is associated with the three-headed dog Cerberus who guarded the gates of the Underworld.
