I am currently sitting at Hale PÅhaku on the side of the mauna waiting for the snowplows to get us access. We are all looking at the webcams and the drifts of snow in front of our facility wondering if we will make it up today.
It does not look like it was a huge amount of snow, rather the high winds re-sculpted the snow into drifts against the buildings and the road cuts. The result is some impressive snow drifts. The snowplow crews are reportedly making slow progress.
In the meantime all we have are the webcam images…
Substantial snow drifts in front of the Keck Telescope, December 19, 2016
A shot from a UKIRT webcam of the Hoku Kea student observatory
Fresh snow atop Mauna Kea blankets the ground behind Keck
Heavy ice on the weather mast of Keck Observatory, December 19, 2016
The solar eclipse of March 8th, 2016 taken from Spencer Beach State Park. Celestron C8 with a Canon 6D at cassegrain focus, 2000mm focal length
The sum of 699 exposures taken through the lunar eclipse of Apr 4, 2015
A total lunar eclipse on the night of August 27-28, 2007 with the Moon deep in the Earth’s inner shadow. A dark eclipse, this exposure shows a number of stars surrounding the Moon
The eclipsed Moon south of the planet Mars just a week after opposition, Canon 6D and 105mm f/4 lens
Total lunar eclipse of 28 Aug 2007, photo is a 8sec exposure with a Canon 20Da on a 90mm f/12 APO
Total lunar eclipse August 28, 2007, photo is a 8sec exposure with a Canon 20Da on a 90mm f/12 APO
The total lunar eclipse on Apr 14, 2014, Canon 6D on 90mm f/12 APO
Residents of Waimea know to brace for the Christmas Parade. For an evening half the island population descends upon this little town. Days ahead of time, the parking spots along the street, far from the store’s front doors, normally empty, will be full of pickup trucks as people stake out their favorite spot to watch the parade.
The crowd along the parade route for the 2016 Waimea Christmas ParadeThe main road closes at 5:30pm, important to know as this closure cuts the ring road around the island. By this time the crowd has grown to a size that is quite surprising on this island. Are there actually that many people here?
This year Keck and CFHT cooperated on a float. Really a decorated truck like most entries in the parade. We handed out glow sticks and glow bracelets to the kids along the parade route. walking along with the group is fun, of course I have a camera along.
Aboard the CFHT and Keck float in the 2016 Waimea Christmas ParadeAfter the parade it was time for a star party… Only one issue… Calling it a star party is a bit of a misnomer. There were no stars, there were no telescopes. Two ‘scopes did get set up briefly, then the rain began. With the ongoing winter storm there were only a few glimpses of the moon through the clouds, otherwise nothing to see. The telescopes stayed in the vehicles.
