Spooky Halloween

What a night it was on Halloween. It cleared up, but the fog remained. I could make out a green arc in the fog that flickered a bit but was mostly just an arc. After a while, I saw orange light low over the treeline—it was the moon rising. When it had risen a bit, a beautiful and clear corona formed in the fog, so gorgeous. Above the moon, I saw the bright stars Castor & Pollux, Pollux about 35 light-years away and Castor 51 light-years. I could see fluorescent moss, mushrooms, and lichens on stones and rocks with the UV lamp—so much beauty out there.

Spooky Aurora

 Beautiful view of the moon rise in mist and the green Aurora on Halloween.

Happy Halloween

This image was particularly difficult to capture. I couldn’t see the spider in natural light; instead, I spotted it under UV light. It was resting on the side of a moss- and lichen-covered rock. It appears to be a type of wolf spider that has sought shelter for the winter, some distance away from the river—likely to avoid potential flooding. A truly beautiful and awe-inspiring spider.

In the sky, one can see, among other things, the bright star Talitha, located on the paws of Ursa Major (the Great Bear). It is a quadruple star system consisting of two binary pairs orbiting one another. The primary star is an A-type subgiant.

Talitha would be a fitting name for the spider.