Leonid Meteor Shower

The Leonids are one of the better known annual meteor showers. Some years see high Leonid activity, with amazing numbers of meteors. This shower has occasionally created true meteor storms. Unfortunately 2019 is not predicted to be one of those years, with very modest numbers expected.

Leonids in Orion
A pair of Leonid meteors streak through Orion

Due to the gravitational influence of Jupiter, the Leonids are not expected to produce any exceptional showers for some decades. We are unlikely to see any repeats of the early 21st century storms anytime soon.

The shower will peak on November 17, with an expected ZHR of around 15 meteors per hour. The Leonids exhibit a broad peak allowing viewing for days before and after maximum. Moonlight is a bit of an issue with a waning gibbous Moon 5 days after full on the 17th.

A Wake-Up Quake

This one woke up everyone in the house, cats included.

A plot of the magnitude 3.1 in North Kohala on the morning of Nov 9, 2019
A plot of the magnitude 3.1 in North Kohala on the morning of Nov 9, 2019

While the eruption of 2018 had the island shaking, 2019 has had seemingly few felt earthquakes. I have gone several months without feeling a quake.

It was something of a surprise when the house rattled this morning just before 6am.

Deb asked me, “Was that a quake?”

“Yes.”

From the short, sharp rattle I guessed it was close… I was right, a magnitude 3.1 in North Kohala. It was also deep, a bit over 14 miles down. This was a classic settling quake as the weight of the island presses into the ocean crust.

On a Saturday morning we did not stay awake for long, cats included.

Update: The quake was later upgraded to a 3.4 after review by the USGS.

A Reminder on Safe Solar Viewing

With the transit of Mercury on Monday a reminder on how to view the Sun safely is in order. I have posted on this subject many times in the past and maintain a full post on the various techniques one can use to safely view the Sun.

Scott in the Sun
Scott showing folks the Sun with a white light solar filter

Since Mercury is quite small you will want a bit of magnification to view the event properly. If you do not have a good solar filter for your telescope come to a local event where telescopes are available.

On Hawaiʻi island you can either go to the W. M. Keck Observatory HQ in Waimea or Subaru Observatory HQ in Hilo. Both observatories are hosting transit events at dawn Monday morning 11 Nov, 2019.

These events start at 6am with webcasts of the transit from other observatories further east, with the Sun rising far enough to see the transit from 7-8am.

Were cultural sites destroyed when building observatories?

Another of the myths that plague this conversation. While not as commonly stated as some of the other myths discussed here, it has been persistent and seems to pop up regularly.

A photo of the Mauna Kea summit area from the Preston expedition of 1892
A photo of the Mauna Kea summit area from the Preston expedition of 1892

When the 12 existing facilities were built, not only were laws waived, heiau and ahus were bulldozed into trash heaps. 

wailana in a comment on Ian Lind’s blog 14Sep2019

The myth is clearly an attempt to show that the state callously allowed the destruction of cultural properties in the past, thus showing that the state does not care for Hawaiian issues and would break its own laws.

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A Moonlit Night at Kaʻohe

It was Norman who started it.

The last glow of Sunset over Hualālai, with Venus just about to set behind the mauna and Jupiter high above.
The last glow of Sunset over Hualālai, with Venus just about to set behind the mauna and Jupiter high above.

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.

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Transit of Mercury Nov 11, 2019

On November 11th, 2019 Mercury will transit the Sun. While transits of Mercury are not rare, they are not all that common either. The last transit was a few years ago in May of 2016. On average there are fourteen transits of Mercury each century or one every seven years. If you wish to observe one the situation is much better than transits of Venus which occur in pairs over a century apart.

Mercury Transit 9May2016
Mercury transiting the Sun on May 9, 2016. Celestron C8 and Canon 6D at f/10.

This particular transit will favor observers in Europe, South America, and the eastern seaboard of North America where the entire transit will be visible. Unfortunately for observers in the islands only the final hour and a half of the transit will be visible having begun well before local dawn. Sunrise will occur around 06:28 for the island of Hawaiʻi, with the transit ending at 08:04 in the morning when the Sun will be 20° above the horizon.

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