The circular star compass is divided into four quadrants. The northeast quadrant is called Ko‘olau; the southwest quadrant is Kona; the southeast quadrant is Malanai; and the northwest quadrant is Ho‘olua. The four star houses called Manu sit in the center of each quadrant. The Ko‘olau and the Kona quadrants reflect across and through the center of the compass.

The reflective nature of the northeast and southwest quadrants enables users to incorporate wind and swell direction into their wayfinding. Thus, Ko‘olau refers to the windward-facing side of the islands; Kona refers to the leeward-facing side of the islands as well as a southerly wind that blows from that direction. The words Ko‘olau and Kona are archaic directional indicators on traditional Polynesian wind compasses.

When Samoa was first settled by Oceanic explorers arriving from a westward direction 3,000 years ago, they found the islands of Tokelau lay to windward of Samoa and the islands of Tonga lay to leeward of Samoa. The word Ko‘olau is the derivative for Tokelau, and the word Kona is the derivative for Tonga. The names of the last two quadrants of Malanai and Ho‘olua describe winds that blow from the edge of the horizon.

Stars move from the eastern horizon to the western horizon in a parallel direction. If the declination of a star (its north or south stellar latitude) does not match your actual physical latitude on the planet, the star will never pass over your head. The wind and the ocean swell, however, will always pass through the center of the canoe. This is what makes the indigenous oceanic star compass functional, with its ability to accurately incorporate stars, sun, moon, planets, wind and swells into a cognitive system of orientation and direction finding.

Evening observations

One of the most exciting annual meteor showers of the year will be visible through August. The Perseid meteor shower peaks on Aug. 12. This meteor shower is the result of the Earth passing through the material left over by the tail of the comet Swift-Tuttle, which last passed through the inner solar system in 1992. At its peak, we can expect to see 90-100 meteors per hour and at least one shooting star per minute.

In August we will be able to make out four of the five visible planets in the early evening. Venus and Jupiter will dominate Kona (southwestern horizon). These planets are two of the brightest objects in the sky and will clearly stand out before the sky gets completely dark. Through a telescope, or even through a pair of binoculars, an observer will be able to see the phases of Venus and Jupiter’s four largest moons.

Rising from Malanai (southeastern horizon) will be the much fainter planets Saturn and Mars. While these planets are not as bright they will stand out against the background of stars. Saturn will take on a yellow-orange color while Mars will gleam with its famous red color. Mars will be closer to the horizon as higher up in the south will be the bright red star Lehuakona, also known as Antares. This star is so frequently mistaken for Mars that its traditional name can be translated to “anti-Ares” or “opponent to Mars.”

Stretching from Ko‘olau (northeastern horizon) over our heads and down to Kona will be the spectacular band of the Milky Way galaxy. On a clear, dark night with little to no light pollution, observers will see this fuzzy band light up the sky. The band could be mistaken initially for clouds but, as we look closer, we can clearly see stars in front of it. We are a part of the Milky Way galaxy, as is every star that we see in the night sky. We see this fuzzy band in our sky as we are looking through the plane of the galaxy; this perspective allows us to see the other material making up our home galaxy.

For Hawaii, midsummer is ideal for viewing the Milky Way as we get a picturesque view of the “bulge” of the galaxy, which will be rising out of Malanai.

When we look toward this wider and brighter portion of the Milky Way band we are looking in through the Sagittarius arm of the galaxy and into the central region of the Milky Way itself. Researchers using the observatories of Mauna Kea are currently studying the supermassive black hole in this region, the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

Morning observations

During August, the sun will rise just after 6 a.m. and dawn will start to brighten the sky around 5 a.m. Early-morning observers looking at the sky before dawn will be looking toward a different area of the sky. High up in the northern sky will be the distinct shape of a “W,” which is the shape of ‘Iwakeli‘i (Cassiopeia). Rising out of the east, observers also will catch the famous shape of Kaheiheionakeiki, also known as Orion. Just above Orion will be the distinctive star cluster Makali‘i, also known as the Pleiades.

Chad Kalepa Baybayan (Kalepa.Baybayan@hawaii.edu) serves as navigator-in-residence and Emily Peavy (Emily.Peavy@hawaii.edu) as planetarium technician support facilitator at the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii (imiloahawaii.org), a center for informal science education at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, showcasing astronomy and Hawaiian culture as parallel journeys of human exploration.