Coney Island is best known for its crowded summer beaches and boardwalk, Nathan’s hot dogs, and the sights and sounds of the amusement parks. But there are some otherworldly sights to see for those who know where to look, and there is no better time than Halloween, especially for an event that will likely not happen again until almost 2040.
The Parks Department’s astronomy programs teach New Yorkers about all of the faraway objects in the sky that normally go unnoticed or unseen, and last Saturday’s blue moon on Halloween was a perfect time to send a couple of park rangers to Steeplechase Pier with a telescope for a small public event that drew about 20 masked and socially distanced people.
The first moon of the month is called the harvest moon, which happened on the first night of October. For the first time since 2001, a second full moon appeared at the end of October, which is the blue moon. Unfortunately for the astronomy event attendees, the blue moon hid behind a veil of clouds in Coney Island on Saturday night.
Happy Halloween?!
A full Moon is always a treat, but this one is a trickster? As the second full Moon in a month, we call it a “Blue Moon,” even though it doesn’t actually appear blue.
?≠?https://t.co/RWJOuwvmaX#NASAHalloween pic.twitter.com/IPAtrZYeTV— NASA Moon (@NASAMoon) October 31, 2020
The park rangers made the most of the event by still teaching attendees about the blue moon, some of the easiest-to-spot stars and planets, and how the telescope works. They demonstrated the telescope by pointing it at the Parachute Jump, which illuminated an otherwise quiet and dark Coney Island beach and boardwalk with bright blue lights and big orange pumpkins that rotated around the tower.
With the telescope, people were able to take this big object that could be seen for miles and hyperfocus in on one point and see all of the colors in great detail. During the pandemic, having a bunch of people put their eyes up to a telescope could be risky, and the Parks Department agreed. The rangers mounted a cell phone to the telescope’s eyepiece and used the phone’s camera to produce an image on the screen so everyone could see it from a safe distance.
The idea of a blue moon appears in pop culture, like the beer brand and the expression “once in a blue moon.” A blue moon is not actually blue but is the second full moon of the month, which happens about every 2.5 years, hence the expression.
Blue Moons occur about once every 2.5 years. And Halloween Blue Moons? Once every 19 years! So make sure to carve out a moment to enjoy this Halloween Blue Moon ?
Here’s everything you wanted to know about the Halloween (Boo!) Moon: https://t.co/RWJOuwvmaX#NASAHalloween ?
— NASA Moon (@NASAMoon) October 31, 2020
While the rangers were pointing the telescope at different parts of the Parachute Jump for people to see, they also continued answering astronomy questions. They showed people a sky map and how to use it to find stars, and a ranger also had a volunteer walk back with a special roll of measuring tape that represented the distances of the major known entities in Earth’s solar system down to scale.
The program drew a mix of people of all ages, and some people left early or came late. For those who stayed around longer, a Halloween treat was in store as the clouds started giving way to the beauty behind its curtains, allowing people to get a glimpse into the dramatic theater of the Heavens on the Day of the Dead.
Some of the clouds out towards the Gil Hodges Marine Parkway Bridge glowed in white and would let slip some peaks of the blue moon itself. As more clouds broke, the moon became more visible at times and had a cool spooky effect from the clouds continuously rolling past it while the crashing waves of water on the beach that are caused by the moon still softly serenaded the stargazers while casting an extra breeze and chill.
As people enjoyed this sight that was the main attraction for coming down to Coney Island on a chilly fall evening, others occasionally exclaimed in excitement when they spotted other bright objects in the sky. The rangers started to quickly move around the telescope to try capturing some of these images while they were visible.
There were apparent planets over Breezy Point in the Rockaways and Sandy Hook in New Jersey. When the rangers focused on one of the gas giants that came into view, the planet and two of its moons were visible through the telescope, which bounces light off of a big mirror in its back and then focuses that light into the eyepiece.
The event lasted around an hour, and by 8 p.m., there was mostly just one group of about a handful of older teenagers, with one wearing a Halloween-themed facemask and another a sweatshirt from a local high school that had a ferris wheel on it for Coney Island. Diego Cosme was part of this group of friends, and the 18-year-old Coney Island resident said that despite the hiccups with the weather, the night “was still pretty cool,” adding “we saw some planets and stuff that we normally don’t see every day.”
Cosme said that he heard about the event on social media and that he took away a few lessons from the night, like how blue moons are rare and not actually blue. He also said that the park rangers answered all of their questions. The rangers are not experts but are knowledgeable enough about astronomy to be able to carry out these events and answer most people’s questions.
The rangers said that they hope to continue more of these outdoor activities during the pandemic. The astronomy events are not new but could be one of many activities that the Parks Department could roll out during the pandemic to give people fun and safe recreational activities to do.
The department usually does astronomy in the colder months because of better visibility and usually tries coinciding the events with astronomical events, like meteor showers and last weekend’s blue moon.
The Parks Department did not respond to a request for comment before the publication of this story.
