These Cross-Quarter Days were the major feast days of the Celts. The Moon itself is just over the border in Cancer, the Crab, but its light will drown out the faint stars of that constellation. (Keep your eye on those two planets as theyll be drawing closer together over the next few weeks). Section 3: Select the year or year and month of the calendar. Depending on how your summer is going, this is either good news or bad news. The solar cross-quarter days occur midway between the equinoxes and solstices. The launch of Luna 25 is scheduled for July 2022. The second prominent meteor shower of the year is the Lyrids. Saturn is the first of the outer planets to reach opposition this year. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. ET (5:56 a.m. PT). Halloween stems from the ancient celebration of Samhain! December. It can be found in Leo the Lion, with Regulus, that constellations brightest star, just a little to its west and within the same binocular field of view. Rise early this morning and youll have the opportunity to see the waning crescent Moon close to the planet Uranus. Youll need a clear, unobstructed view toward the west to spot it, as it will only be about six degrees above the horizon at 15 minutes after sunset. There are two total lunar eclipses this year, but if you live on the North American east coast, this months eclipse will be your best bet. Wi sma persuasion she agreed Around the time of the spring equinox, Lady Day became the traditional day for hiring farm laborers for the planting and harvesting seasons ahead. Cross quarters are half way between those . Comae Berenicid meteor shower 2022 Moon at Last Quarter; 20: December Leonis Minorid meteor shower 2022; 21: The Moon turns full at 10:36 p.m. During the Quadrantids peak in January 2022, less than 1% of the Moon will be illuminated, which is perfect for meteor hunting. The two now fit within the same binocular field of view and will remain that way for the next week or so. Learn why we have elections in November, weddings in June, groundhog celebrations in Februaryand why we do what wedo! Its currently among the faint stars of southern Aries, roughly midway between dim Alrisha (Alpha Piscium) and the Pleiades star cluster. The following is a chart of cross quarter dates based on the solstices and equinoxes for 2015 to 2019, all based on Eastern Standard Time. Under ideal conditions, this medium-strength shower can produce about 15 to 20 meteors an hour, not to mention the occasional fireball. The Cross-Quarter Days were symbolized by the four much smaller dots in the crotches of the Cross. According to astrological timing, the Sabbat dates are as follows: Ostara (Vernal Equinox) - Sun at 0 Aries Beltane - Sun at 15 Taurus Litha (Summer Solstice) - Sun at 0 Cancer Lammas - Sun at 15 Leo Mabon (Autumn Equinox) - Sun at 0 Libra Samhain - Sun at 15 Scorpio Yule (Winter Solstice) - Sun at 0 Capricorn Imbolc - Sun at 15 Aquarius But the Celts (pronounced "Kelts"), the people of Iron Age Northern Europe were interested in the days half way between these Quarter Days. Tomorrow, May 1 st is also known as May Day, which is one such holiday. They are represented by the four black balls at the points where the two arms Cross on the Cross shown above. St. Brigid - 1st February (Mercury and Venus dont reach opposition as they orbit closer to the Sun than the Earth.) May brings us a total lunar eclipse, June has the closest full Moon of the year, while July gives us a rare opportunity to see Mars and Uranus within the same binocular field of view - but once again, in the morning sky! At that time, Samhain was NOT celebrated on the same day. The days that marked the four major divisions of the year were called Quarter Days; they marked the solstice(when the sun sets at its most northern or southern point on the horizon) and equinoxes (when the sun sets due west). The number of large customers (those who contribute over $100,000 in . That means the quarter days of the River Houses year are 1 September, 1 December, 1 March, and 1 June, and the cross-quarter days are 16 October, 14 January (15 January in Leap Years), 15 April, and 16 July. The rovers main objective will be to look for signs of past life on the Red Planet. Planets meet in the sky relatively infrequently. Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, reaches opposition today. Welcome to the curious world of cross-quarter days. There are two moments each year when one of Earth's poles is tilted the most toward the Sun, and the Sun lies directly above one of the tropics. 2015. Leo, the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate, starts to rise at around midnight, with the Moon following close to 2 a.m. Go to the point on your Orthographic Projection of 51 and locate the declinations of the Summer and Winter Solstice Sun at noon (shown in gray in the illustration). Ancient Celtic Calendar: Quarter Days and Cross-Quarter Days Andrew E. Rothovius October 28, 2022 For daily wit & wisdom, sign up for the Almanac newsletter. Section 2: Select the sky events to include in the calendar (moon phases, eclipses, planet positions, meteor showers, etc). Connect the two points, and mark the intersection with the Equinox Sun's path (E2). The Celtic Solar Calendar and traditional Japanese Luni-Solar Calendars used the cross-quarter days to mark the start of the various seasons, unlike the current tradition in the West where we say speak of the Equinoxes . ET (7:27 p.m. There are four cross-quarter days in the year, plus the four "quarter" days (the spring equinox, summer solstice, fall equinox, and winter solstice). With the potential for 150 shooting stars an hour being visible under ideal conditions, the Geminids produce more meteors than the Perseids and are brighter and more colorful. Youll be able to fit Venus, Mars, and Saturn within the same 10x50 binoculars field of view, but the Moon is just a little too far to do the same. This started the custom of early autumnal elections, because it was a convenient time for people to gather. They should intersect at C'. These Scottish days correspond more closely, but not exactly, to the cross-quarter days, or mid-season days, of the English calendar." (Quarter Days) The actual fourth cross-quarter day ranges from Nov. 5-8, yet for simplicity's sake Halloween has been fixed on our calendars as Oct. 31. This would make it seem that they are evenly spaced around the eight-point year. If youve been keeping a watchful eye on Venus and Mars over the past few weeks, youll have seen them drawing closer together in the predawn twilight. Februarys full Moon is known as the Snow Moon, as the heaviest snowfall often occurs this month. The Geminid meteors are very bright and have a wide variety of colors: white, yellow, red, blue, and green. January 2023, 2023 Astronomy Calendar | Astronomical & Celestial Events, What's in the Sky This Month? Learn why it bears such a weird name and when its best to observe. The Druidic Cross to the left indicates the Quarter Days with the four arms of the Cross. In the article about the Celtic Calendar and the quarter/cross-quarter days, there is an error in the one for Mid-summer's day. Till, tween the late and early, That should give you plenty of time between sunset on the 21st and dawn on the 22nd to see some shooting stars! Remember that you should never look directly at the Sun without special solar filters! This app has a built-in astronomical calendar where you can set notifications for any of the events youre interested in. Its best to start your observations after midnight. Alternatively, come back tomorrow morning at the same time to see the thin Moon three and a half degrees to the left of the planet. The Moon will now rise later as it wanes but will rise before midnight for about another five days or so. This fixes the Sun in two dimensions. For ancient Celts, the Cross Quarter Days marked the beginning of seasons rather than the midseason. The Quarter Days of the year (the Solstices & Equinoxes) can be defined with extreme accuracy - to the nearest nano-second if necessary. Exact Calendar Date: Wednesday May 4, 2022 Suggested Celebration Planning: Observe the exact day, or on the weekend before on Saturday, April 30, and also observe the Solar Eclipse at 4:28 pm, or. What's in the Sky This Month? A partial solar eclipse occurs when the Moon covers only a part of the Suns disk in the sky. This year (as in most years) that honor belongs to Septembers full Moon, but it can sometimes go to Octobers full Moon instead. The pair were closest yesterday, but the gap has only increased by three arcseconds over the intervening 24 hours. This meteor shower is capable of producing up to 100 meteors per hour. We appreciate yourenthusiasm! The picture was taken inside an underground stone chamber. It seems from the astronomical alignment that the megaliths mark cross-quarter holidays. ET on the 18th. Some believe that the Celts divided the year into just four major sections: Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh (what we call Cross-Quarter days). Elections came to be shifted to November in the American climate, where the harvest season was more stretchedout. In fact, many of todays holidaysfrom Groundhog Day to Christmaswere originally seasonal markers. FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 To ancient civilizations fascinated and entertained by the . These holidays are only celebrated by the Celts, according to astronomer Alan Hill. First of all, unlike ourselves, they lived in it. Thank you, Christine (and William earlier) for bringing this to our attention. Mercury has now returned to the morning sky and is at its greatest distance from the Sun today. Love reading all the articles in this publication. I agree with William . Folks celebrated by feasting, dancing, singing, and preparing for the hot summer days ahead. The reason is that Aquarius, the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate, doesnt rise until about two hours before dawn, and the sky starts to brighten shortly after. In scripture, it also says that after Mary learned that she was to have Jesus at the Annunciation, and that her kinswomen Elizabeth was also expecting; Mary visited Elizabeth and the baby (John the Baptist to-be) "leapt in Elizabeth's womb.". Grab your binoculars and start scanning the east-southeastern horizon at about 20 minutes before sunrise; the pair is about 22 degrees to the lower left of Venus, and at magnitude -0.1, Mercury is the brighter of the two (Saturn is magnitude 0.8.) To learn whether an eclipse is visible from your location, use our Eclipse Guide app. It was also called Brigantia for the Celtic female deity of light, calling attention to the Sunbeing halfway on its advance from the winter solstice to the springequinox. You can also watch our video about the most exciting sky events of 2022. Around the time of the summer solstice, this day was the midpoint of the growing season, halfway between planting and harvest. 1121 Main Street | P.O. The Perseids are, probably, the most popular meteor shower at least in the Northern Hemisphere, where they peak during warm summer nights. Look carefully some seven degrees to the west of Mercury and you might also see the star Aldebaran in the twilight. The year 2022 will start with the Quadrantids. Mars has been drawing closer to the Pleiades over the past few weeks, and now the pair is within the same binocular field of view. To its upper left is Mars, while Venus shines brilliantly toward the east. Look toward the southeast at about 30 minutes before sunrise and youll see a crescent Moon, with Venus shining brilliantly to its upper left. Without moving apart the arms of your pair of compasses, put the point of your compass on C and swing an arc through the latitude line, finding points B/L2 and I/s2. These moments are the solstices. It was Ray's family's druidic Cross. This meteor shower can produce up to 120 meteors per hour, but on average, its hourly rate equals about 25. The Geminids are a major meteor stream that can produce up to 150 meteors per hour. 02/02/2023 if the first cross quarter day of the year 2023. Like the full Moon last month, Aprils full Moon occurs in Virgo, but whereas the Moon was on the western side of the constellation in March, its now on the eastern edge, close to the border with Libra. ET (2:59 a.m. PT) will see the Moon very low in the west for those on the east coast and with probably less than an hour before sunrise. Now, imagine the Moon is a bow shooting an arrow toward the horizon. In reply to Love Farmer's Almanac by Sharon Cardenas (not verified). Most obvious is brilliant Venus, but just two degrees below that is distant Saturn. 2. The opposition occurs when a planet is positioned exactly opposite the Sun as observed from the Earth. It's hard to follow up a month like August: every year the August night sky wows with the Perseids shower and a host of other astronomical events. Since Samhain was the death-night of the old year, it came to be associated with ghosts and graveyards. To catch the most meteors, try looking some distance away from the showers radiant, which is located in the constellation Perseus. "In traditional astronomy, there are eight major seasonal subdivisions of every year," EarthSky shares. The tropics are lines of latitude that circle the Earth above and below the equator, at about 23.4 degrees north and south. In England, Wales and Ireland they are traditionally: 25 March, 24 June, 29 September and 25 December, although local authorities tend to use 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October. The 4 lesser Sabbats or quarter holidays are the two solstices and two equinoxes. East Coast observers will . Box 520 | Dublin, NH 03444. In Scotland the quarter days are: 28 February, 28 May, 28 August and 28 November. 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