December is a great time to look skyward and check out the wonders of the night sky with your own eyes. Dec. 21 is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. While the contrast between day and night is not as extreme as seen on the mainland, sunrise in Waimea on the solstice is at 6:54 a.m. with sunset following 10 hours and 55 minutes later at 5:49 p.m.
These dark winter skies, when cloud free, bring some of the most famous constellations, including Orion, the Hunter. By Christmas, he will be visible as soon as the sun sets. Look for the famous Belt of Orion, a line of three fairly bright stars, rising near vertically.
To the north of the belt, in Orion’s shoulder, is the bright red star, Betelgeuse. This star is a red supergiant; a star near the end of its life. In fact, it is possible that Betelgeuse’s life has already ended in a colossal supernova explosion, but due to the finite speed of light and the incredible vastness of the universe, it still appears whole in the skies of Earth.
Preceding Orion in the sky is the beautiful star cluster of the Pleiades. This open star cluster can be found by lining up Betelgeuse with the star Aldebaran, the glowing red eye of Taurus the Bull. While Orion looks like a giant stick figure in the sky, Taurus looks like a large Y.
If you continue this line past Aldebaran, it will lead you to the Pleiades, seemingly sitting on the shoulder of the bull. This star cluster is well known around the world. In Hawaii it is called Makalii, a name which has been variously interpreted as “Little Eyes,” “Little Stars,” “High-Born Stars” and “Eyes of the Chief.” The Makalii are mentioned several times in the Kumulipo, the Hawaiian Creation Chant, including on the fifth line of very first verse.
This cluster is well known in Japan where it is called Subaru. You may be familiar with this word used by the successful automobile manufacturer. This is why the logo of the company is a cluster of stars. The Subaru Telescope on Maunakea is also named for the star cluster.
The most spectacular meteor shower of the year, the Geminids, occurred in early December. The shower coincided with a full moon this year hampering meteor shower viewing. However, a second smaller shower was also visible on the nights of Dec. 21 and 22. This shower, called the Ursids, produces only 5-10 meteors per hour and peaks. The meteors appear from Ursa Minor, also known as the Little Dipper. While the peak already occurred earlier this week, the dark skies around Christmas should provide perfect viewing for a Christmas meteor or two.
From the staff of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, we want to wish all readers of the North Hawaii News section a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. See you in 2017.