A ghoul, a witch and a jack-o-lantern: spooky stargazing for October skies
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Spot these nebulas, plus the blinking Demon Star, this month.

Ada Wood
ByAda Wood•
2 days agoUpdated: October 11, 2026, 7:25 am EDTPublished: October 11, 2026, 7:00 am EDT

Spooky nebulas and the blinking Demon Star haunt October’s sky

The nebula of a witch and her broom, a ghoulish demon star and a celestial jack-o'-lantern? All of these haunting sights are in the sky now, just in time for Halloween.

Here's your guide to some spooky stargazing and space facts for the month of October.

Using the constellations Cassiopeia and Andromeda, locate Perseus. You can find Algol by using the star Almach as a guide.

Using the constellations Cassiopeia and Andromeda, locate Perseus. You can find Algol by using the star Almach as a guide.

(NASA/Stellarium)

The Ghoul or Demon Star

Algol, a name for a star scary enough on its own. But knowing it also goes by the "Demon Star" or "The Ghoul"? That's chilling.

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Early astronomers gave this star its name as a nod to the mythic Medusa, a snake-haired monster whose gaze turned anyone who looked at her into stone.

Algol is actually a triple-star system — with two of the three stars orbiting one another. That's how it gets its signature "blinking" feature, appearing brighter and dimmer at different times.

(MORE: El Niño is playing trick-or-treat with your Halloween forecast)

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This is one you can spot with the naked eye. During the autumn months, you'll find it in the northeastern sky, after 9 p.m.

To find it, first look for the W or M-shaped constellation Cassiopeia, the Queen. You can jump across the sky down from there to Algol's constellation, Perseus the Hero. Algol is one of the brightest stars there.

To get some extra help, stargazing apps can provide you with the precise spot in the sky, based on your location and time.

An infrared portrait of the Witch Head nebula from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, shows billowy clouds where new stars are brewing.

An infrared portrait of the Witch Head nebula from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, shows billowy clouds where new stars are brewing.

(NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The Witch Head and Witch's Broom Nebula

The witching hour approaches … A nebula, a giant cloud of dust and gas in space, has earned a creepy name for the shape it appears in the sky.

Formally known as IC 2118, the Witch Head Nebula is 900 light-years from Earth and glows due to light reflected from the bright star Rigel.

The fine dust in the nebula reflects the light in a shade of blue. The color comes not only from Rigel's own blue color but also because dust grains reflect blue light more efficiently than red. That's the same reason Earth's daytime sky looks blue.

A section of Caldwell 34 also known as the “Witch’s Broom” that’s roughly two light-years across, covering only a tiny fraction of the nebula's structure.

A section of Caldwell 34 also known as the “Witch’s Broom” that’s roughly two light-years across, covering only a tiny fraction of the nebula's structure.

(NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team)

The constellation Orion, accompanied by the Witch Head Nebula, rises from the eastern horizon before midnight on Halloween.

Fascinating as it is, it can only be spotted with large telescopes, with very large apertures and low magnification, not the naked eye. If you have the equipment to see it, you'll find billowy clouds — the place where new stars are brewing.

(MORE: From eclipse glasses to telescopes: A stargazing gear guide)

And while thousands of light-years away, her mode of transportation can be found in space too. A section of the Veil Nebula — the remains of a star that was once 20 times as massive as the Sun — Caldwell 34, also holds the Witch's Broom.

This infrared image from NASA’s Spitzer Space telescope shows a cloud of gas and dust carved out by a massive star. A drawing overlaid on the image reveals why researchers nicknamed this region the “Jack-o’-lantern Nebula.”

This infrared image from NASA’s Spitzer Space telescope shows a cloud of gas and dust carved out by a massive star. A drawing overlaid on the image reveals why researchers nicknamed this region the “Jack-o’-lantern Nebula.”

(NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The Jack-o-Lantern Nebula

Carving pumpkins this spooky season? There's a ghastly gourd out there in space looking down on you.

The Jack-o-Lantern Nebula is sculpted by a massive O-type star that's about 15 to 20 times heavier than the Sun.

(MORE: The original jack-o’-lanterns were turnips)

The star glows like a candle at the center of a cloud of dust and gas in the shape of a pumpkin.

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope captured images of this nebula, since it isn't visible with the naked eye.

Content writer Ada Wood enjoys exploring the stories that science and climate teach us about our natural world and how it influences the way we live in it.

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