Special events
Every summer, our sky is decorated with the beautiful Perseids meteor shower. This shower is active through August, with peak activity the evening of Aug. 12.
The shooting stars of this meteor shower are the remnants of material left from the comet Swift-Tuttle.
When this comet last passed through the inner solar system in 1992, it left behind a cloud of dust and ice in Earth’s orbit. Every year when Earth passes through this debris cloud, the dust and ice fall through our atmosphere and burn up, creating the shooting stars of the Perseids meteor shower.
At its peak we can expect 60-150 shooting stars per hour. The shooting stars will mostly travel across the sky from east to west, roughly originating from the constellation of Perseus, which rises in the east.
The shower will unfortunately peak the night after the full moon in August; the brightness of the moon will make seeing the shooting stars difficult. However, meteors from the Perseids shower will be visible in the weeks before and after the official peak.
The full moon on Aug. 11 will appear slightly larger in the sky as it passes through perigee as a supermoon, the third and last one of the year.
The moon’s orbit around Earth is an elliptical path with our planet as one focus; therefore, the moon regularly enters a position known as perigee when it is closest to Earth.
The moon completes an orbit around Earth every month and passes through perigee once during its orbit. For a few months each year, the moon is in its full moon phase as it passes through perigee, making it appear larger in the sky — hence the term supermoon.
On the evening of Aug. 14, Saturn will be at a unique position in its orbit known as opposition.
Opposition refers to when an outer planet (Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus or Neptune) is on the opposite side of Earth from the sun. During opposition, the planet is at its closest position to Earth and will look somewhat brighter in the sky, rising at the same time as the sun sets and remaining in the sky the entire night.
Aug. 14 will be the best night to view Saturn, though it will be clearly visible in the early evening sky throughout August. With a very good pair of binoculars or a telescope, observers will be able to see Saturn’s famous system of rings as well as the planet’s largest moon, Titan.
Evening observations
As we near the end of summer, the spectacular band of the Milky Way will stretch across the sky.
Summer months in Hawaii are the best time to see the center region of the Milky Way, which sits behind the constellations of Kamakaunuiamaui (Maui’s Fishhook) and Pimoe (an ulua fish). On clear nights in areas with low light pollution, the band of the Milky Way will be bright enough to illuminate the landscape.
The glow of the Milky Way band appears fuzzy and cloudlike as we are looking at the combined light of hundreds, even thousands of stars that are all so far away that we cannot see their individual points with our naked eye.
As we look at the band of the Milky Way, we are looking along the edge of our galaxy at all of the material that makes up our galaxy.
Stretching along the Milky Way band will be the navigational star family of Manaiakalani, which comprises three main components: Kamakaunuiamaui, Pimoe and the Navigator’s Triangle.
Morning observations
Throughout August the sun will rise just after 6 a.m., and dawn will begin to color the sky around 5:15.
During these early morning hours, observers will have a very different view of the sky.
The shape of Kaheiheionakeiki, or Orion, will rise in the eastern sky along with the other stars that form the navigational star family of Kekaomakali‘i.
Against the backdrop of these stars, observers will be able to find Jupiter, high in the southern sky; Mars, rising with the bright red star Aldebaran; and Venus, which will rise in the northeast just before sunrise.
Skywatch – August 2022 by Honolulu Star-Advertiser
The ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii at the University of Hawaii at Hilo showcases astronomy and Hawaiian culture as parallel journeys of human exploration.
