Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope will host their annual Winter Star Party after the Waimea Christmas Parade this Saturday. The Star Party, at CFHT’s Waimea offices, will begin at 7 p.m. and continue until 9 p.m. CFHT staff and members of the West Hawaii astronomy club will set telescopes on the building’s front lawn for community members.
Inside the building, visitors can participate in a whole set of family activities. Participants can peer into CFHT’s remote observing room and watch staff take real-time remote observations or “Ask an Astronomer” all their burning astronomical questions. The youngest visitors can stop by the keiki booth and make a take-home holiday craft. The observatory will offer winter refreshments including hot chocolate, coffee, a s’mores fire pit, and more. Visitors can register to win a ticket package for a family of four to the Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo.
The December sky is ideal for stargazing. Early in the month, Orion will rise in the east around 7:30 p.m. By the end of the month, it 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. If you continue this line past Aldebaran, it will lead you to the Pleiades. This star cluster is well known around the world. In Hawaii it is called Makali’i, a name which has been variously interpreted as “Little Eyes,” “Little Stars,” “High-Born Stars” and “Eyes of the Chief.”
The stars of Orion, Taurus and the Pleiades are all observable at the time of the Star Party.
December also hosts what is roundly described as the best meteor shower of the year: the Geminids. The meteor shower can be observed this year from Dec. 4-16, with the peak occurring the night of Dec. 13 and 14. Reaching rates near 100 meteors per hour at its peak on the nights of Dec. 13 and 14, the Geminids will wow. The best time to watch the meteor shower is around 2 a.m. Our first quarter moon will set around before 2 a.m., so the sky should be nice and dark during the peak. If you don’t want to sit up until 2 a.m., meteors will be visible earlier in the night as well. The meteors will appear to originate from the constellation Gemini, which gives its name to the shower. However, the best way to look for meteors is simply to go to a dark place and look up.