Violet and a Meteor
Tag: observing
A Full Night at Kaʻohe
A last star party of the year, actually the last star party of the decade.
With new Moon in the middle of Christmas week I had the choice of the weekend before Christmas, or the weekend after. Guessing that attendance would be better in the quiet days between holidays I chose December 28th as our monthly new Moon star party.
The site was, as usual our Ka’ohe observing site on the side of Mauna Kea. The weather was nearly ideal, clear, not very cold, and almost no wind at the site.
Arriving at the site to find beautiful, clear skies we marveled at the sunset scene. A brilliant Venus and three day old crescent Moon hung above the fading sunset and Hualālai.
Continue reading “A Full Night at Kaʻohe”December Observing List
Our next club dark sky star party will be Dec 28th at the usual Kaʻohe site, in the lull between the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
For the evening I have again assembled an observing list for those who want to explore some of the more interesting objects available in the sky this month.
These are all visible in the early evening, all suitable for average telescopes, with a couple more suitable for binocular viewing.
While most of these will be easy to locate and observe, there are a few more challenging objects in the list.
Continue reading “December Observing List”A Foggy Night at Kaʻohe
Foggy? Well? Mostly the skies were the beautiful dark Mauna Kea skies we enjoy. Mostly. The fog did flirt with us much of the night, rolling over hard for about half an hour, blotting out the stars for a while.
Despite a dire forecast for moisture on the mauna, the weather at Kaʻohe was quite nice aside from a bit of fog. The big telescopes atop the mauna were closed for much of the night in fog and even a little light snow, while we were enjoying the stars in the eyepiece.
There were ten folks who drove up the mauna to enjoy the night… Maureen, Cathy, Andrew, John, Cliff, and myself. Plus all four members of the Phelps family with their own telescope.
The view after sunset was stunning, Jupiter and Venus in a close pair over the summit of Hualālai deep in the bright zodiacal light. The Milky Way arched over the northern sky from Sagittarius to Cassiopeia.
Continue reading “A Foggy Night at Kaʻohe”Clear Skies
Transit Viewing
Red Lights Under Stars
A Moonlit Night at Kaʻohe
It was Norman who started it.
An innocent email… Anyone interested in a star party this weekend?
Last weekend’s new Moon star party had been a bust, heavy clouds overhead were a disappointment to those of us waiting for a good dark night.
Given the positive response to Norman’s email there seems to be a few folks ready to go despite a bright Moon in the sky. With the weather looking good the Saturday afternoon email flurry showed that a few folks were going, thus I joined in.
As per Mauna Kea normal I drove through the clouds, heavy fog on Saddle Road just a mile from Kaʻohe made the trip seem hopeless. But as I neared the turn I suddenly found myself above the clouds, the bright Moon high over Hualalai.
Continue reading “A Moonlit Night at Kaʻohe”A Bit of Moonlight
A bit of moonlight, OK, more than a bit, still worth spending some time in the dark…
A Night Between Hurricanes at Kaʻohe
Our monthly dark skies star party had been originally planned for the night of July 27th, a few days before full Moon. With the governor’s emergency order all access to the mauna was closed, and the gals at the DLNR office let me know I could not get a permit. With that I put out a message I hate to post… Star party cancelled.
One week later and things look better, the emergency order has been rescinded and we again have access to the mauna, no problem getting our permit.
The problem this time looked to be weather, no big problem… Just a couple of hurricanes.
Continue reading “A Night Between Hurricanes at Kaʻohe”