One of the many reasons we are lucky to live on Kauai is our beautiful night skies! Did you know Kauai has an astronomy club dedicated to showcasing that night sky to the public?
Coming up in December, you can still find Mars high overhead, diminishing in brightness from its extraordinary July opposition (when it is closest to the Earth), but still conspicuously bright and red moving from Aquarius to Pisces.
Saturn is getting closer to the Sun from Earth’s point of view but will still be visible just after sunset for the first week or so of December. High in the northern sky is the prominent “W” shape of Cassiopeia.
To the Hawaiians this was known as ‘Iwa Keli‘i because to them it looked like the ‘Iwa, or frigate bird.
Nearby is Andromeda, where you can find the Andromeda galaxy, the nearest major galaxy to our own and visible as a faint, luminous cloud about the size of the full moon with the naked eye if you are away from street lights, and spectacular through binoculars or a telescope.
Directly overhead is the “great square of Pegasus,” noted by its four brightest starts. Part of Pegasus is the impressive globular cluster M15, with 100,000 stars packed into a dense ball. Moving back to Cassiopeia and then off to the east a little is Perseus, where you can find the Double Cluster, a beautiful pair of star clusters embedded in the background haze of the Milky Way.
Orion the Hunter will be rising higher and higher in the west throughout December. Comet 46P may become bright enough in mid-December to be seen with the naked eye as a hazy green object near the Pleiades.
KEASA (Kauai Educational Association for Science and Astronomy) will be hosting its monthly public Starwatch at the Kaumakani Park softball field on Saturday. Come join us at sunset and let our astronomers show you these objects and many more through our favorite telescopes.
If the weather is in doubt, call 346-5796 to verify the event is still on. Aloha, and clear skies, everyone!
•••
David Bickham is vice presdent of the Kauai Educational Association for Science and Astronomy.
in 2016 Jupiter could be seen somewhere in the western hemisphere top just below and south of Kaua’i. It was on the newspaper. Written by Brittney Lyte. Is Jupiter still seen? 30 times bigger than the earth. Bright star, but only it is a planet. In Kekaha.