This Week’s Night Sky: Stellar Ghoul Haunts Halloween Skies
The moon guides the way to a creepy crab, and a monster’s eye appears to wink at Earth.
For an added observing challenge, use binoculars to hunt down the ice giant Uranus about 10 degrees to the right of the moon, about equal to the width of your fist at arm’s length.
Skywatchers in Europe and northern Asia will witness an even more dramatic sky event, with the moon occulting, or going in front of and covering, the 66 light-year-distant star.
Just above the moon is Zeta Tau, one of the stars that mark the tips of Taurus's long horns. The star acts as a convenient guidepost to the famed Crab Nebula, the remains of a supernova recorded by Chinese astronomers in A.D. 1054.
Look for the faint Crab Nebula, also known as Messier 1, approximately 1 degree above Zeta
