[wordup] full moon for all hallows eve

[Adam Shand]

Via: The Eristocracy <Eristocracy at merrymeet.com>
From: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAFMQJUFTC.html

A Halloween Treat: Holiday's Full Moon Is First Since 1955; Next One Is 19
Years Away

By Coralie Carlson Associated Press Writer Oct 30, 2001

MIAMI (AP) - For the first time in 46 years, this year's Halloween
ghosts and goblins can trick or treat by the light of a full moon. They
won't get another chance until 2020, astronomers said.

Wednesday's full moon will look like an orange jack-o-lantern rising
from the east at dusk, said Jack Horkheimer, executive director of the
Miami Space Transit Planetarium.

It will appear orange at the horizon because it is seen through denser
layers of the earth's atmosphere. Adding to the effect, the moon's tilt
at this time of the year makes the "man in the moon" particularly
visible.

Some astronomers believe jack-o-lantern carving was inspired by the
rising, orange October moon, said Horkheimer, writer and host of PBS's
nationally syndicated Star Gazer series for 25 years.

To make the superstitious even more jittery, a constellation associated
with the some end-of-the-world beliefs will also be at the top of
Wednesday night's sky.

The Seven Sisters constellation, which looks like a small cluster of
grapes, has long been a signal for the  ime of year to honor the dead -
such as All Saints Day, Nov. 1.

According to myth, the Seven Sisters constellation is at its highest
point in the sky during a great calamity, possibly the biblical flood or
the sinking of Atlantis. The Aztecs and Mayans believed it would be
overhead at midnight on the night the world comes to an end, Horkheimer
said.

The Seven Sisters and the full moon will both be directly overhead at
midnight, he said.

"It's just very nifty because it will be a very bright full moon and
when it's up high like that, it will just flood the landscape with a
lovely bright light," said Horkheimer.

On the Net:

Star Gazer: http://www.jackstargazer.com