SKYWATCHER'S REPORT, OCTOBER 29, 1991

   Hello. This is the Smithsonian SkyWatcher's Report for the week
beginning October 29, 1991, from the Albert Einstein Planetarium at
the National Air and Space Museum.

   The Moon wanes to a thin crescent in the morning sky this week,
which makes this year's Halloween even darker and spookier than
usual.  On the night that all the ghosts and hobgoblins set out on
their annual haunts, Luna doesn't rise until well after midnight, so
witch-watchers and ghostbusters will have a hard time seeing their
quarry.  New Moon occurs on November 6th at 6:09 AM Eastern Standard
Time, but you might want to get up early and look for the Moon near
Jupiter and Venus on the mornings of the 1st and 2nd.

   All of the revelry associated with Halloween has roots which date
back to a medieval Celtic feast called "Samhain" (pr. SAVIN) and the
Christian celebration of All Saints Day.  These were regarded as
"cross-quarter days" in those ancient times, when a given season was
halfway over.  We still celebrate Halloween, Candlemas, and May Day
in many parts of the world today, although Candlemas is more
popularly known as Groundhog Day.  Lammas, the mid-summer cross-
quarter, seems to have fallen by the wayside.

   Saturn lingers in the early evening sky and transits the meridian
as the Sun sets.  He's at his best during the hour or so of evening
twilight, but as the night wears on he sinks lower in the southwest. 
Nonetheless, he is fairly conspicuous even in twilight, and his soft
yellowish glow adds a sense of warmth to the frosty dusk.  Last year
at this time a large white oval erupted in the equatorial regions of
the planet and quickly spread into a nearly continuous belt.  Nothing
like this had been seen for almost 60 years, and astronomers
worldwide pointed their instruments, including the Hubble Space
Telescope, at the ringed planet.  Now the spot has dissipated, but
the planet is still worth perusing through the telescope.  Weather
permitting we'll be looking at Saturn from the Arlington County
Planetarium on the evening of the 2nd.  Call (703) 358-6070 for the
details and directions.

   Something else to look for in the evening sky this week is a very
rare phenomenon for these parts.  For the past week an enormous
sunspot group has blemished the face of the Sun, and on the night of
the 28th many people in the Washington area saw a display of the
Northern Lights.  The sunspot that's responsible for this rare light
show will take another week to transit old Sol's face, so the
possibility of another display remains quite high.  It is impossible
to predict when and where the aurora might be seen, but SkyWatchers
should keep an extra-close look at the northern horizons for subtle
clouds of red or greenish light.

   While scanning the sky for the Northern Lights, look for three
geometric star patterns that mark the course of the autumn nights. 
Just after Sunset the Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb, and Altair
rides high in the west.  By 9 PM the Great Square of Pegasus may be
seen nearly overhead, and by Midnight the last stars of the Great
Winter Circle, Procyon and Sirius, have come up in the east to join
Orion and the other bright stars of the coldest nights.

   Early risers can still catch the splendor of Jupiter and Venus in
the pre-dawn sky, and the addition of the Moon on the 1st and 2nd 
makes a spectacular precursor to the sunrise.  The two planets are
now moving apart quite rapidly as Jove heads for the evening sky and
Venus chases the Sun.  Venus reaches her greatest elongation from the
Sun on the morning of the 2nd; from now on she will sink towards the
horizon until she slips into the solar glare next spring.

   So, until next week, put some starlight in your life, and thank
you for calling the Smithsonian.