Subj : Daily APOD Report
To   : All
From : Alan Ianson
Date : Sun Oct 24 2021 00:07:37

                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2021 October 24

                     Halloween and the Ghost Head Nebula
   Image Credit: Mohammad Heydari-Malayeri (Observatoire de Paris) et al.,
                                  ESA, NASA

   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.

                     Tomorrow's picture: highway to hole
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