Each spring, amateur astronomers around the world challenge themselves by competing in the Messier Marathon — a visual feat in which observers use their telescopes to view all 109 celestial objects catalogued by French comet-hunter Charles Messier in a single night. This dusk-to-dawn romp has been a popular annual event since the 1960s. The search is fun and gratifying, and it helps observers hone their hunting skills.
Why not double the fun by hosting a similar challenge in the autumn? I have created a list of 109 deep-sky objects that you can hunt down in a single night on or around the New Moon closest to Halloween. In deference to the time of year, and considering that many deep-sky objects appear as pale specters of fuzzy light, I decided to call this October treat the Ghost Hunt.
Like the Messier Marathon, the Ghost Hunt is intended to be a fun and challenging activity that lasts from dusk to dawn. But there’s one big difference: What you’ll search for in the Ghost Hunt are not just Messier objects but 109 targets carefully selected from several deep-sky object lists.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: CircuitPython 8.1.0 and 8.2.0-beta0 out and so much more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
