Featured Mauna Kea discovery

A University of Hawaii-led discovery of an immense bubble 820 million light-years from Earth is believed to be a fossil-like remnant of the birth of the universe.

Astronomer Brent Tully from the UH Institute for Astronomy and his team unexpectedly found the bubble within a web of galaxies. The entity has been given the name Ho‘oleilana, a term drawn from the Kumulipo, a Hawaiian creation chant evoking the origin of structure.

Ho‘oleilana, which means “sent murmurs of awakening,” emerged from discussions between Tully, UH Hilo Ka Haka ‘Ula o Ke‘elikolani Hawaiian language professor Larry Kimura and ‘Imiloa Executive Director Ka‘iu Kimura.

The object’s name comes from a line in the Kumulipo chant, “Ho‘olei ka lana a ka po uliuli” (“From deep darkness came murmurs of awakening”). The traditional naming of select astronomical discoveries in Hawaii stems from the ‘Imiloa program A Hua He Inoa, a collaborative effort that creates pathways in which language and culture are at the core of modern scientific practices.

Read more at hawaii.edu/news/2023/09/05/bubble-of-galaxies-hooleilana.

Special events

On Nov. 2, Jupiter will be in a unique position known as opposition. This occurs when an outer planet is lined up with Earth and the sun.

As Jupiter will be on the opposite side of the sun, from our perspective, it will rise at the same time as the sun sets and will be in the sky throughout the whole night. When Jupiter is at opposition, it is at its closest physical position to us and will appear to be brighter in our sky.

>> Leonids meteor shower: Through mid- to late November, the Leonids meteor shower will fill our sky with shooting stars. These meteors come from the tail of the comet Tempel- Tuttle, a periodic comet that last swept through Earth’s orbit in 1998. The peak of the shower will occur Nov. 17 when observers should see at least 10-15 meteors each hour.

>> Makali‘i: As we approach the middle of November, the star cluster of Makali‘i will rise in the quadrant of Ko‘olau at the same time that the sun sets. This is an important celestial indicator to begin the season of Makahiki.

While this alignment is the major indicator of the start of the Makahiki season, a time of celebration and peace in traditional Hawaiian culture, there are many other indicators that Makahiki is beginning.

They include the arrival of the migratory kolea (Pacific golden plovers) and the first Hilo moon phase following the alignment of Makali‘i and the setting sun.

Starting Nov. 19, you will begin to see Makali‘i, a sparkly cluster of stars, on the eastern horizon about the same time as sunset. Every night thereafter, it will be higher in the east at sunset.

Evening observations

Rising in the east will be Kalupeakawelo, also known as the Kite of Kawelo, which is one of the four great navigational starlines established by the Polynesian Voyaging Society.

At the center of this starline is the famous Great Square of Pegasus, which represents the body of a kite as it is being flown high overhead. North of the Great Square is the “w” shape of ‘Iwakeli‘i, the royal frigate bird, and the house-like shape of Kamo‘i. The starline also connects to some of the brightest stars in the southern fall sky.

According to legend, Kawelo was a Kauai chief and hero, most notable for the many athletic competitions in which he excelled. In a kite-flying contest with his cousin, Kauahoa, Kawelo is able to twist, turn and make his kite leap, resulting in both kites becoming entangled and Kawelo’s kite severing the string of his cousin’s kite and carrying it away in the wind. Kawelo fears he will be punished by his much larger cousin, but Kauahoa blames the wind. Those watching the competition interpret the incident as a sign of Kawelo’s supernatural power.

Kalupeakawelo, the kite of Kawelo, is set up as a 3D figure in the sky. To properly picture the kite in the sky, imagine that you are lying back and holding the strings that attach to ‘Iwakeli‘i and Kamo‘i with one hand, and holding the strings that attach to Nalani and Kaikilani with the other hand. The square body of the kite, marked by Manokalanipo, Kakuhihewa, Pi‘ilani and Keawe, is flying high up above your head.

Hidden within Kalupeaka­welo is the closest galaxy to the Milky Way, the Andromeda galaxy. While the Andromeda galaxy is visible to the naked eye, it can often be a bit difficult to observe.

To view it, observers should have a clear, dark night sky with little to no light pollution.

The Andromeda galaxy has approximately 1 trillion stars, much more than the estimated 250 billion stars within our Milky Way. As the largest galaxies in our local galactic cluster, the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies are caught in each other’s gravities and are set to collide about 4.5 billion years from now.

Among the stars of the fall sky, Saturn and Jupiter will be easily visible high in the southern sky. These gaseous worlds are the two largest planets of our solar system. Through a telescope or a good pair of binoculars, observers will be able to see some of these planets’ moons.

Morning observations

In Hawaii our sky is constantly changing, even over the course of one evening. Observers watching the stars during the early morning hours (4:30-5:30 a.m.) gain a very different perspective of the sky.

Throughout November the incredibly bright planet Venus will continue to grab our attention above the eastern horizon. As Venus is closer to the sun than Earth, we only ever observe Venus either setting after sunset or rising before sunrise.

The planet’s thick atmospheric clouds reflect light from the sun and make Venus the third-brightest object in the sky after the sun and full moon. Because Venus is so bright and is often seen just before sunrise, it is often referred to as “the morning star.”

The ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii is a center for informal science education at the University of Hawaii at Hilo showcasing astronomy and Hawaiian culture as parallel journeys of human exploration.