Tonight will see Mercury and Venus even closer, separated by only 1°48′, tomorrow that will shrink to 1°26′ and 1°22′ on the 24th. The trio will all be quite bright, with Mercury shining around -1 magnitude, Jupiter at -2, and Venus around -4 magnitude. Keep watching as this trio will continue to be quite close through the end of the month.

A young whitemouth moray (Gymnothorax meleagris) in the coral at Eel Cove

The 2013 Hawaiian Telecom phonebook.

I am old enough to remember when a phone book was actually useful. It was the way to locate businesses and the phone numbers of friends. That was a long time ago. At this point I can not remember when I last opened a phone book to accomplish anything useful, an internet search is faster and more informative. A search provides so much more than a phone number…. Business hours, a map to the location with directions if needed, reviews and more. Not to mention that the information is up to date, not printed once a year, a business can update their website as details change. Need to see tonight’s menu?

Phone books are an anachronism from another time, one that belongs in the past. As with any business there is a certain inertia, they will not die quickly. While it does appear that the white pages have properly died, someone needs to put a stake into the yellow pages.

For this household? It is straight into the recycle bin with the book. Unused, unlamented, existing only long enough to inspire a rant.

As usual Keck provided much of the official staff. This is the fault of Keck software engineer Al Honey, the head official, who drafts the rest of us into being there! An engineer from Liquid Robotics and a couple folks from the observatories in Hilo rounded out the judging staff. Add teams from schools all over the island and mix with water to create an event.

A ROV built from PVC pipe and bilge pumps maneuvers the course at the 2013 MATE ROV regional competition in Hilo

This year I did safety checks and mission judging. We had quite a few new folks on the judging staff so we spread out the experienced judges. As a result I got to judge a couple scout teams before doing the ranger class. The younger scout class may have a somewhat easier mission, but what I saw was impressive. There were several teams who had built great ROV’s and had obviously practiced hard for the competition. They set right into the tasks, working their way right down the list with dispatch and impressive teamwork, racking up impressive scores.

Students from Kealakehe High School pilot their ROV in the 2013 MATE ROV regional competition in Hilo

The Kealakehe High School team was doing fairly well, off to a good start in their mission. it was then that Pete and I saw an object come off the ROV and flutter to the bottom of the pool, the left thruster propeller. “Hmmm… that isn’t good” It only took the operator moments to realize she had lost a thruster. She could still turn and go up and down, forward and reverse were difficult. The team continued the mission with surprising aplomb, nursing a crippled craft forward to complete a couple more tasks and a few more points.

Scout Class Division 1 (3-5 graders)

1st E. B. De Silva Elementary (Spyfish)
2nd Earl’s Garage
3rd E. B. De Silva Elementary (SEA)

Scout Class Division 2 (6-8 graders)

1st E. B. De Silva Elementary (Boss)
2nd Kalaniana’ole Elementary (Dolphin)
3rd Haili Christian Sch (Little Narwhals)

Aloha Team Spirit Award – Displayed enthusiasm, encouragement, and best team outfits
E. B. DeSilva Elementary (SEA)

Ranger Class

1st Kealakehe High School (Tiki Technology)
2nd Big Island Woodproducts (South Kona Underwater Mechanics)
3rd Konawaena High (Wildcats Robotics)

Special Awards

‘Outside of Da Box’ Award – Innovative and original ROV design
Konawaena Middle School

Rookie of the Year Award – First time competing and fought hard
Konawaena Middle School

Guts and Glory Award – Overcame hardships with determination and resolve
Kealakehe High School

Engineering Design Award – Excellence in implementing engineering disciplines
Honoka’a High School

Enormous thanks must go to Daryl Watanabe, Al Honey, and the lengthy list of other great folks who make the Big Island Region ROV Competition happen. In the end it was Kealakehe who won the ranger class, again. They had better up their game, it looks like some of the younger teams are ready to make a challenge next year.

The GoPro HD Hero 2 camera is interesting to us as it comes with a standard waterproof housing good to scuba depths. The price was right, Deb picked it up as a Costco special.

Thus I attached it to the top of my usual rig to give it a try on a dive or two. As it turns out, it is a good thing I had my regular camera along, there are some issues with a stock GoPro underwater.

The first obvious issue is focus, as I had heard the camera will not focus properly underwater with the standard dome port. The solution to this is to get a flat port.

The more concerning issue is the burned out highlights visible in the video below. This is not unusual in a camera using a typical exposure algorithm designed for daylight above water. Underwater the red light is gone, absorbed by the water. This lack of red creates a tendency for the camera to overexpose the green or blue.

The usual solution is to set a slight under exposure in the scene using exposure compensation. However, the Hero 2 has no exposure compensation control. There are a couple possible solutions… Commonly available is a red filter for the flat port camera. Will this solve the burnouts? Another possibility lies in using a less saturated color profile as available in the new firmware.

While there were issues with the image, the sound seems pretty good for being in a case, much the same as what I hear when diving. The real test would be to dive with a few whales around to see how well it records whalesong. Alas, the humpbacks headed north a couple months ago. I miss the whalesong soundtrack on our dives. A pod of dolphins perhaps?

I plan to set up the GoPro as a stand alone camera and video rig for diving. Just the camera, an Ultralight handle and arm I have on-hand, plus a video light, which I also have on-hand. I just need to manufacture a tray for the setup, another hour in the machine shop. This should make a compact, lightweight dive or snorkeling camera rig.

I can think of a few other interesting uses for the camera, it has some nice timelapse facilities I need to test. Just the camera to use on the top of a boat. The camera does not do low light, just too small a sensor and lens. Still, there are quite a few things it should do well, a fun addition to the kit.

The Moon, Venus and Aldebaran join up for an evening conjunction

On the evening of May 24th Venus and Mercury will be about 2° apart with Jupiter 4° above. Closest approach of the three will occur the evening of May 26th with the trio forming a neat triangle about 2° on a side. On the 28th Venus and Jupiter will be just over 1° apart. During the first few days of June, the planet Jupiter will bow out of the dance, exiting the stage into the Sun’s glare. Venus and Mercury will join up one more time for a few days after June 17th, with a close approach on the 19th and 20th with about 2° separation between the two. When Mercury also heads into the sunset this dance will end during the last days of June.

On the 9th and 10th of June the Moon will run across the stage, a very thin crescent around 2% illuminated and 6° south of the planets.

Much of the dance will take place about 15° above the sunset, high enough to be nicely visible, low enough that the glow of sunset will provide a colorful backdrop to light the stage.

While cleaner wrasse are quite pretty they are also infuriatingly difficult to photograph. You can usually get close, they are not overly shy. The problem is that they never stop moving, swimming with an odd, jerky motion in the water. I have long since lost count of the number of blurred photos I have of this fish.

A cleaner wrasse (Labroides phthirophagus) in an overhang filled with red sponges and coralline algae

Mercury will join Venus and Jupiter in the sunset making for a series of planetary conjunctions over the coming month.