Astronomy Picture of the Day for December to Today

You can use these hyperlinks to view each day’s pictures

2022 December 05: Pleiades: The Seven Sisters Star Cluster
2022 December 04: Video: Powers of Ten
2022 December 03: Stereo Mars near Opposition
2022 December 02: Merging Galaxy Pair IIZw096
2022 December 01: Artemis 1: Flight Day 13

December 5 Today in History

Today’s Important Historical Events

771 Charlemagne becomes the sole King of the Franks after the death of his brother Carloman

1349 500 Jews of Nuremberg massacred during Black Death riots

1456 Earthquake strikes Naples; about 35,000 die

1848 US President James K. Polk triggers gold rush of 1849 by confirming a gold discovery in California

1933 Prohibition ends in the US when 21st Amendment to the US Constitution ratified, 18th Amendment repealed (5:32 PM EST)

1969 Four-node ARPANET network is established

Today’s Historical Events

63 BC Cicero reads the last of his Catiline Orations

633 Visigothic King Sisenand convenes Fourth Council of Toledo at the church of Saint Leocadia in Toledo; all bishops of Hispania agree to establish seminaries in cathedral cities and implement educational standards

771 Charlemagne becomes the sole King of the Franks after the death of his brother Carloman

1082 Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona is assassinated

1301 Pope Boniface VIII’s decree Ausculta fili (only nominee)

1349 500 Jews of Nuremberg massacred during Black Death riots

1360 The French Franc is created

1408 Emir Edigu of Golden Horde reaches Moscow

Today’s Historical Events in Film and TV

1859 Dion Boucicault‘s play “Octaroon” premieres in NYC

1941 “Sullivan’s Travels”, directed by Preston Sturges and starring Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake, is released

1954 KTEW (now KJRH) TV channel 2 in Tulsa, OK (NBC) begins broadcasting

1958 WTOL TV channel 11 in Toledo, OH (CBS) begins broadcasting

1971 KCBJ (now KMIZ) TV channel 17 in Columbia, MO (ABC) 1st broadcast

1974 Final episode of Monty Python‘s Flying Circus airs on BBC TV

1982 15th NAACP Image Awards: “An Officer and a Gentleman” wins Outstanding Motion Picture

2001 “Ocean’s Eleven” directed by Steven Soderbergh, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Julia Roberts premieres in Westwood, California

Today’s Historical Events in Music

1830 Hector Berlioz‘s program symphony “Symphonie fantastique” premieres at the Paris Conservatoire

1837 Hector Berlioz‘s “Requiem” premiere at Les Invalides, conducted by François Habeneck

1890 Hector Berlioz‘s opera “Les Troyens” premieres in Karlsruhe, Germany

1966 “I Do! I Do!” opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 561 performances

1968 Rolling Stones release “Beggar’s Banquet” LP

1973 Paul McCartney & Wings release album “Band on the Run” in the US

1975 “Me & Bessie” closes at Ambassador Theater NYC after 453 performances

1991 “Catskills on Broadway” opens at Lunt-Fontanne NYC for 452 performances

Today’s Historical Events in Sports

1868 1st American bicycle college opens (NY)

1914 CFL Grey Cup, Varsity Stadium, Toronto: Toronto Argonauts win first Championship; beat U of Toronto Blues, 14-2

1924 Hamilton Tiger Red Green scores 5 goals to beat Tor Maple Leafs 10-5

1925 CFL Grey Cup, Landsdowne Park, Ottawa: Ottawa Senators win first title; beat Winnipeg Tammany Tigers, 24-1

1931 CFL Grey Cup, Molson Stadium, Montreal: Montreal AAA Winged Wheelers shutout Regina Roughriders, 22-0 for their first title

1936 CFL Grey Cup, Varsity Stadium, Toronto: Sarnia Imperials defeat Ottawa Rough Riders, 26-20 for their 2nd Championship

1942 CFL Grey Cup, Varsity Stadium, Toronto: Toronto RCAF Hurricanes beat Winnipeg RCAF Bombers, 8-5

1943 NFL Philadelphia Eagle-Pitts Steeler merger dissolves

A Laugh for Today

A Couple of Challenges to Let Your Inner Child Out to Play

Ok, I know technically winter is not here for 17 more days. But remember as a child most of us did not wait for a specific calendar date to tell us it was winter? Personally the first snowfall meant it was winter and time to build snowman, have a snowball fight, and make snow angels.

So, I have a challenge for anyone that possibly can to let your inner child out to have fun. Make a snowman and/or have a snowball fight with your neighborhood children of all ages (just make sure there are no stones or ice in your snowballs) . Definitely get down in the snow and make a snow angel. I was told by psychologist, who also helps me with pain management, that making a snow angel can help relieve joint and soft tissue inflammation. The fantastic side effect of all of these things is they helps us relieve stress and other negativity.

Another challenge, remember cutting out snowflakes from paper or making garland from strips of construction paper? Baking cookies by yourself or with your children/grandchildren,coloring, painting or anything else that reminds you things you did before becoming a grown up with all kinds of responsibilities.

Email Lady Beltane at ladybeltane@witchesofthecraft.com with a short video or pictures showing how you let your inner child out to play and be creative for whatever season we are in, in the hemisphere you live in. Your faces will be covered over if you do not want it seen. Please include a short description of what your activity means to you. Lady Beltane is going to start a seasonal page that will include your pictures or short 60 second video of you my dear Sisters, Brothers, and Honored Guests doing something that brings you and your inner child joy and happiness. Lady Beltane will start it off with something today.

I will be Back Today

Although some of the regular daily posts might be posted later than usual, I will do my best to get them up at the usual times. Any missing birthday horoscopes and astronomy picture of the day will be done also. After the daily posts are caught up to date and at least part of the N. H. tomorrow ones are done I will start working usual monthly. I may need to wait until tomorrow to finish the monthly posts. Of course getting all posts done today depends on how long I can comfortably sit and type.

Thank you very much for your encouragement, support, healing energy, and caring about me during another very rough patch in my life. If not for all the positive feedback and energy I receive from so many of you I would not carry on with WOTC website and witchcraft school. Again thank you for being with me and WOTC not only through the positive times in my life but especially for being with me through the negative times as well.

My wish for each of you is that you have people in your life that support you through all the different times in your life. Please know I am one of them and that you can email me at ladybeltane@witchesofthecraft.com anytime about anything. All correspondences go no further than my eyes.

A Laugh for Today

Both of my canine familiars lay like this often. Wishing you a silly Saturday!

A Thought for Today

I do color by number apps on my cellphone and the one has some kind of picture with as saying everyday. Today’s really spoke to my heart because I would not want to live without all the different types of love we cannot express. High on my list is the “love” we share through supporting each other through positive and negative times in our lives. Remember I am as close as an email or comment on a post or however we can communicate to support and try to help you through things just as you are here for me.

December 2 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 December 2

A merging galaxy pair cavort in this image captured by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. This pair of galaxies, known to astronomers as II ZW 96, is roughly 500 million light-years from Earth and lies in the constellation Delphinus, close to the celestial equator. As well as the wild swirl of the merging galaxies, a menagerie of background galaxies are dotted throughout the image.The two galaxies are in the process of merging and as a result have a chaotic, disturbed shape. The bright cores of the two galaxies are connected by bright tendrils of star-forming regions, and the spiral arms of the lower galaxy have been twisted out of shape by the gravitational perturbation of the galaxy merger. It is these star-forming regions that made II ZW 96 such a tempting target for Webb; the galaxy pair is particularly bright at infrared wavelengths thanks to the presence of the star formation. This observation is from a collection of Webb measurements delving into the details of galactic evolution, in particular in nearby Luminous Infrared Galaxies such as II ZW 96. These galaxies, as the name suggests, are particularly bright at infrared wavelengths, with luminosities more than 100 billion times that of the Sun. An international team of astronomers proposed a study of complex galactic ecosystems — including the merging galaxies in II ZW 96 — to put Webb through its paces soon after the telescope was commissioned. Their chosen targets have already been observed with ground-based telescopes and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which will provide astronomers with insights into Webb’s ability to unravel the details of complex galactic environments. Webb captured this merging galaxy pair with a pair of its cutting-edge instruments; NIRCam — the Near-InfraRed Camera — and MIRI, the Mid-InfraRed Instrument. If you are interested in exploring the differences between Hubble and Webb’s observations of II ZW 96, you can do so here.MIRI was contributed by ESA an

Merging Galaxy Pair IIZw096

Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, L. Armus, A. Evans

Explanation: Bright at infrared wavelengths, this merging galaxy pair is some 500 million light-years away toward the constellation Delphinus. The cosmic mashup is seen against a background of even more distant galaxies, and occasional spiky foreground stars. But the galaxy merger itself spans about 100,000 light-years in this deep James Webb Space Telescope image. The image data is from Webb’s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI). Their combined, sharp infrared view follows galactic scale restructuring in the dusty merger’s wild jumble of intense star forming regions and distorted spiral arms

December 1, 2022 Moon Goddess Current Phase

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious, you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else was born.  

From MoonGiant.com 

The Moon’s current phase for today and tonight is a Waxing Gibbous phase. Visible through most of the night sky setting a few hours before sunrise. This phase is when the moon is more than 50% illuminated but not yet a Full Moon. The phase lasts about 7 days with the moon becoming more illuminated each day until the Full Moon. During a Waxing Gibbous the moon rises in the east in mid-afternoon and is high in the eastern sky at sunset. The word Gibbous first appeared in the 14th century and has its roots in the Latin word “gibbosus” meaning humpbacked.

Visit the December 2022 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s Waxing Gibbous Phase

The Waxing Gibbous on December 1 has an illumination of 60%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On December 1 the Moon is 8.3 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

Phase Details

Phase: Waxing Gibbous
Illumination: 60%
Moon Age: 8.30 days
Moon Angle: 0.54
Moon Distance: 371,499.85 km
Sun Angle: 0.54
Sun Distance: 147,495,806.03 km

The 8 Lunar Phases

There are 8 lunar phases the Moon goes through in its 29.53 days lunar cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter and Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: the Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous and Waning Crescent. For more info on the Moon Cycle and on each phase check out Wikipedia Lunar Phase page.

Useful Moon Resources

Some of the Witchcraft/Magickal Correspondence for Thursday

From ancientpathway.com

Magickal Intentions:
Luck, Happiness, Health, Legal Matters, Male Fertility, Treasure and Wealth, Honor, Riches, Clothing Desires, Leadership, Public Activity, Power, Success
Incense:
Cinnamon
Musk
Nutmeg
Sage
Planet:
Jupiter
Sign:
Sagittarius
Pisces
Angel:
Sachiel
Colors:
Purple
Royal Blue
Indigo
Herbs/Plants:
Cinnamon
Beech
Buttercup
Coltsfoot
Oak
Stones:
Sugilite
Amethyst
Turquoise
Lapis Lazuli
Sapphire

December 1 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 December 1

DCIM100GOPROGOPR1346.

Artemis 1: Flight Day 13

Image Credit: NASAArtemis 1

Explanation: On flight day 13 (November 28) of the Artemis 1 mission the Orion spacecraft reached its maximum distance from Earth. In fact, over 430,000 kilometers from Earth its distant retrograde orbit also put Orion nearly 70,000 kilometers from the Moon. In the same field of view in this video frame from flight day 13, planet and large natural satellite even appear about the same apparent size from the uncrewed spacecraft’s perspective. Today (December 1) should see Orion depart its distant retrograde orbit. En route to planet Earth it will head toward a second powered fly by of the Moon. Splashdown on the home world is expected on December 11.

Really Need a Mental Health Day

To make a long story very short. I saw the man who i got married to in 1998 and I am trying to divorce so I can marry Big Dawg showed up in the Zoom courtroom yesterday after having no contact with him for 22 almost 23 years. The 2 years we lived together as husband and wife was 2 years of verbal, emotional, and a few times physical domestic abuse. Seeing him brought back a lot of bad memories which raised my stress level throwing back into another bad fibromyalgia flare and a migraine.

I need to not have any responsibilities today except taking care of myself and getting my emotions back under control as they have been see-sawing since 10:30 AM yesterday.

A Thought for Today

Dear sisters, brothers, and honored guests may your life be blessed with all things positive! 

November 30 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 November 30

The Light, the Dark, and the Dusty

Image Credit & CopyrightAnthony Quintile

Explanation: This colorful skyscape spans about four full moons across nebula rich starfields along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy in the royal northern constellation Cepheus. Near the edge of the region’s massive molecular cloud some 2,400 light-years away, bright reddish emission region Sharpless (Sh) 155 is at the center of the frame, also known as the Cave Nebula. About 10 light-years across the cosmic cave’s bright walls of gas are ionized by ultraviolet light from the hot young stars around it. Dusty reflection nebulae, like vdB 155 to the right, and dense obscuring clouds of dust also abound on the interstellar canvas. Astronomical explorations have revealed other dramatic signs of star formation, including the bright reddish fleck of Herbig-Haro (HH) 168. Below and right of center, the Herbig-Haro object emission is generated by energetic jets from a newborn star.

NASA calls on the global public to help it document weird phenomena in the sky

NASA is calling on citizen scientists to help it collect data on the elusive, mysterious phenomena known as red sprites.

Red sprites are impressive red streaks of light that usually occur over storms and reach as high as 55 miles (90 km) into the atmosphere. They’re like a form of inverse lightning and form part of a group of lightning-like phenomena given names derived from fantasy — other examples include elves and giant jets.

The U.S. space agency believes many people may have unwittingly captured the phenomenon on camera and that their images could contribute to ground-breaking science. In a bid to collect this data, it has announced it is forming a new citizen science project called Spritacular (pronounced sprite-tacular).

The first crowdsourced database of sprites

NASA’s new citizen science project aims to connect professional scientists with members of the public willing to share photographs they’ve taken on their phones or digital cameras that may feature evidence of sprites or other Transient Luminous Events (TLEs).

“People capture wonderful images of sprites, but they’re shared sporadically over the internet and most of the scientific community is unaware of these captures,” explained Dr. Burcu Kosar, a space physicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland and Spritacular principal investigator. “Spritacular will bridge …

Click here to read the rest of this article by interestingengineering.com

The 13 Witches Runes

The Witches Runes are different from the Elder Futhark Runes in that the Witches Runes are not an alphabet. The Witches Runes are instead a series of symbols that can be used in divination. There are different versions of the Witches Runes, one uses 8 symbols, another uses 10 symbols and the one discussed here uses 13 symbols. Cast the Witches Runes the same way your would the Runes.

The 13 witches Runes in divination

You can cast the Witches runes on a cloth, or on the table and read the meaning of the runes that are facing upwards only. If the eye is amongst the runes look at where the eye is looking. If there is a rune in front of the eye then this is the rune you must pay extra attention to.

You can also read the Witches runes by picking on rune at a time while you ask the runes a question.

Click here to read the rest of this article and see the common 13 witches runes

November 29 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 November 29

The Gum Nebula Supernova Remnant

Image Credit & Copyright: Victor Lima

Explanation: Because the Gum Nebula is the closest supernova remnant, it is actually hard to see. Spanning 40 degrees across the sky, the nebula appears so large and faint that it is easily lost in the din of a bright and complex background. The Gum Nebula is highlighted nicely in red emission toward the right of the featured wide-angle, single-image photograph taken in late May. Also visible in the frame are the Atacama Desert in Chile in the foreground, the Carina Nebula in the plane of our Milky Way galaxy running diagonally down from the upper left, and the neighboring Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) galaxy. The Gum Nebula is so close that we are much nearer the front edge than the back edge, each measuring 450 and 1500 light years respectively. The complicated nebula lies in the direction of the constellations of Puppis and Vela. Oddly, much remains unknown about the Gum Nebula, including the timing and even number of supernova explosions that formed it.

A Laugh for Today

Wishing you a terrific Tuesday!

A Thought for Today

Dear sisters, brothers, and honored guests may your life be blessed with all things positive!