A Darker View

Full Moon

Full Moon will occur today at 08:40HST.

It did not look like it was going to be a bad week. The schedule was for a light week with nothing serious envisioned. Better yet, Tuesday was scheduled to be our departmental retreat, a day at the beach with the operations crew, all good.

One. Deb is having a bad spell. With little warning I took off Monday afternoon to drive her down to Kona to spend a couple hours in the infusion lab for medication.

Two. Monday would just not die easily… The phone calls began just after sunset. The Keck 1 hydraulic bearing system would not come on properly, shutting down just after the main pump came online. It became quickly apparent that I would be joining John and Justin for a trip to the summit in the middle of the night.

Continue reading “It was one of those weeks…”

Reef Fish Gallery

Commerson's Frogfish — A commerson’s frogfish (Antennarius commerson), photo by Pete Tucker, used with permission

Cleaner Wrasse — A cleaner wrasse (Labroides phthirophagus) in an overhang filled with red sponges

Flowery Flounder (Bothus mancus) on the reef at O’oma

A Cheekspot Scorpionfish (Scorpaenodes littoralis) near the shore in 4′ of water, Mahukona

Dragon Wrasse — A dragon wrasse, actually a juvenile rockmover wrasse (Novaculichthys taeniourus) at 40′ depth, Kaloko

Painted Frogfish — A bright red painted frogfish (Antennarius pictus) at 25′ depth, Puakō

Redbarred Hawkfish — Redbarred hawkfish (Cirrhitops fasciatus) perched in a reef crevice

Longnose Butterflyfish — A longnose butterflyfish (Forcipiger flavissimus) in nighttime coloration during a night dive at Puakō

Tinker's Butterflyfish — Tinker’s butterflyfish (Chaetodon tinkeri), photo by Pete Tucker

Devil Scorpionfish — A devil scorpionfish (Scorpaenopsis diabolus) at The Hive

Hawaiian Red Lionfish — Hawaiian red lionfish (Pterois sphex) on a cave ceiling

Trumpetfish Face — A trumpetfish (Aulostomus chinensis) considers the camera

A female whitley’s boxfish (Ostracion whitleyi) in the coral at 40′ depth, Kaloko

Racoon Butterflyfish — Racoon butterflyfish (Chaetodon lunula) at 25ft depth, Hoover’s Tower

Bluestripe Squirrelfish — Bluestripe squirrelfish (Sargocentron tiere) in a small cave at Pentagon

Brick Soldierfish (Myripristis amaena) in a cave at Puakō

Twospot Lizardfish (Synodus binotatus) at 30ft depth, Puakō

Ornate Butterflyfish — Ornate butterflyfish (Chaetodon ornatissimus) photographed during a night dive at Puakō

Teardrop Butterflyfish — Teardrop butterflyfish (Chaetodon unimaculatus) peeks out from under cover

Orangespine Unicornfish — Orangespine unicornfish (Naso lituratus) at 25ft depth, Suck-Em-Up Cave

Attempting to Hide — An Arceye Hawkfish (Paracirrhites arcatus) hides from the photographer deep in a coral head

Trumpetfish in Coral — A young trumpetfish (Aulostomus chinensis) hovers in the arms of a large antler coral (Pocillopora eydouxi)

Leaf Scorpionfish (Taenianotus triacanthus) crouched in finger coral

Cleaning Station — A group whitebar surgeonfish (Acanthurus leucopareius) of clean algae and parasites off a green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas)

Eye of the Trumpet — A trumpetfish (Aulostomus chinensis) considers the camera

A pair of Goldring Surgeonfish (Ctenochaetus strigosus) at 35ft depth at Eel Cove

Consequences of a Bad LED

A bad indicator LED, a simple ten cent part brought the Keck 1 telescope to a stop this last week.

Logic Card — A section of the AAA logic card.

How can that be? Usually an indicator is just that, an indicator. While an LED may indicate a problem it is rarely the cause of the problem.

I was getting ready to leave the summit when the radio started to speak words of concern, it sounded like something was not working, an instrument rotator?

Worse, the Keck 1 computer room hosted a veritable crowd, from the summit supervisor to all of the techs. Yeah, this was not good, why are they all looking at me? Oh, h%#*!

Continue reading “Consequences of a Bad LED”

Westward

Petersburg Wharf

Meadow Telescope

Solar Scope — A solar telescope setup to photograph the total solar eclipse 21Aug2017 in the meadow at Grant’s Spring, Oregon

Crossing the Saddle at Night

Leaving Hilo I turn towards the shortest path home. It is also my favorite path by far. Not for me the twisting turns, small towns, and driving rains of the Hamakua coast road. I turn towards Saddle Road, to the pass between the enormous volcanoes of Hawaii.

Saddle Road seen as it was in 2007, before rebuilding

The road is smooth and fast now. The Saddle of legend and rental car prohibition is mostly gone, only fragments remain. While you can still drive bits of the old Saddle, they are no longer the main road, bypassed by the new highway.

Even before the road was re-built this was my favorite route to cross the island. The traffic is far heavier now, the new road no longer offers the challenges and dangers of the old road. Drivers no longer deterred by those dangers now use the new road to cross the island rather than driving around the northern belt road.

Continue reading “Crossing the Saddle at Night”

A Waikoloa Star Party

It started simply enough… Donna asked for suggestions, she was looking for activities the Waikoloa Village Association could share with the community. Of course I suggested a star party. Much of our small club lives in the village, this would be an easy and fun event to put together. Al we need is a date and a place.

A date? Sept 23rd would offer a slim crescent Moon, Saturn, and the Milky Way overhead. The 23rd has the added benefit of being a Saturday.

A place? The Waikoloa Stables have ceased being a place with horses. There remains a nice lawn, bathrooms, and a large parking lot. The stables currently hosts a thrift shop and regular community events like the yearly Wiliwili festival.

A plan? Easy… Light refreshments, parking coordination, keiki fire dancers, the local CERT team for safety backup, a sound system, a speaker for the evening, and at least five telescopes for viewing. OK, maybe not so simple.

We can do this.

Continue reading “A Waikoloa Star Party”