Oh, yay!  It’s Friday the 13th; that traditional ‘bad luck’ day in Western culture.  I’m sure we all know people who genuinely dread Friday the 13th, having been raised to believe something awful was going to happen to them.  Perhaps the day makes YOU uncomfortable, for whatever reason.

To celebrate, I thought it would be interesting to take a quick look at a few of the astronomy-related superstitions floating around out there.  I imply no negative connotation to the word “superstition”.  I’m not intending on pointing any fingers and laughing at anybody; after all, one person’s “superstition” is another person’s “religion”.  For blog purposes, a “superstition” is a belief or collection of beliefs that is without support of direct, scientific evidence. Notice — that doesn’t mean “wrong”; it means it’s a philosophy rather than a science.

Are you ready?  Jumping right on it, with:

FRIDAY THE 13TH: The belief that a specific day (calendar position) can be unlucky.  The roots of this one are right on top of Christianity.  According to Christian canon, Christ was crucified on Friday, the satanic “mass” is supposedly enacted with 13 participants (one lead, twelve actors), Noah’s flood began on Friday, there were 13 present at the Last Supper, and Adam and Eve fell from Grace on a Friday.  It’s the combination of Friday and 13 that supposedly makes the day unlucky.  Fear of the number 13 (triskaidekaphobia) is a widespread phobia, by the way.

Interesting Nugget: The Apollo 13 mission was launched on April 11, 1970 (4 + 11 + 70 = 85, 8+5=13).  It was launched from pad #39 (3 x 13 = 39).  The explosion took place at 1:13 pm (1313 hours in military time) on April 13th.

Gorgeous Full Moon by Luc Viatour, October 7, 2006, Hamois, Belgium http://www.lucnix.be

THE FULL MOON: There is supposed to be an increase in violence and irrational behavior during the full moon.  Also, to a lesser degree, during the “new” moon (the ‘dark’ of the moon).  Modern studies are contradictory, at best.  Usually they do not show a link between behavior and phases of the moon, except for the link associated with increase/decrease in the landscape brightness (i.e., hunting).

Interesting Nugget: Each full moon is given a name, usually associated with some activity occurring at or around the time of the phase.  Some of the names are:  Pink Moon, Harvest Moon, Cold Moon, Worm Moon, and Blood Moon.

WISH ON A FALLING STAR: The belief that if you can make your wish before the “falling star” fades, your wish will come true.  Of course, there are no stars really falling; I think everyone by now accepts that falling (or “shooting”) stars are meteoroids.  A whimsical, pleasant superstition.  (remember, by the way, a meteoroid or ‘meteor’ is falling; a ‘meteorite’ is what’s left over after it hits)

Interesting Nugget: Meteors are theorized to make noise.  Aside from the occasional sonic boom heard in association with meteors, a “hissing”, “crackling” noise has often been reported.  Sometimes the sounds are intercepted by unusual transducers, like your hair.

COMETS ARE HERALDS OF MISFORTUNE: Misunderstood for almost all of their known history, comets were believed to be the heralds of misfortune.  Not just personal misfortune, either.  Perceived as balls of fire thrown at us from the Heavens, comets were believed to foreshadow epic misfortunes such as drought, flood, and widespread disease (as in the plagues).

Interesting Nugget: Comets were viewed as important heralds of great misfortune, so the job of predicting their advent was given to the Chinese astrologers.  China took their astrology seriously; incorrectly predicting a comet or eclipse (or failing to predict one at all) was likely to cost the astrologer his life.

Superstition Mountains, AZ, image by Doug Dolde

Now it’s your turn!  What’s your favorite astronomy-related superstition?  Why?  I find it interesting to read about old superstitions and rituals.  Most of the time the origins are in man trying to make sense of the universe around him.  We were looking for the “cause” and the “effect”.  We were trying to answer the eternal question… why?