Aloha! Enjoy!

The highlighted topic for this issue of Hoku is the Moon. You will find a wonderful website with many resources which will be useful for Teachers and Parents. We are grateful for your feedback and support of our venture. Feel free to send us an email.

Contents:

• CFHT Community Outreach
• Best Places to Work in Hawaii
• Chromoscope Views the Milky Way
• 50 Years of Space Exploration
• Resource Guide to the Moon for Educators
• Upcoming Astronomical Events

Recent Past Events

December 10th, 2009: Family Science Night was held at Waimea Middle School Gym at 5:30pm.

January 23rd, 2010: Astronaut Ellison Onizuka Science Day was held at the University of Hawaii, Hilo campus from 8am to 3pm. There will be workshops, many displays, and science demonstrations. Check out last years event at: http://www.spacegrant.hawaii.edu/OnizukaDay/ . Also the upcoming event site: http://ww2.earthday.net/node/16841 .

February 13th, 2010: CFHT again provided judges for the East Hawaii Science Fair. Check the papers for the details of this event. We will update this site when we have that information as well.

February 24-26th, 2010: CFHT staff members participated in the online judging for the West Hawaii Science Fair.

March 6th, 2010: CFHT gave a tour to the Punahou High School Astronomy class.

March 18th, 2010: CFHT gave ILOA Galaxy Forum Conference held at CFHT.

April 6th, 2010: CFHT also participated in the Hawaii State Science Fair by sending a judge.

Upcoming Events

May 1st, 2010: CFHT will be represented at the AstroDay in Hilo at the Prince Kuhio Plaza from 10am-4pm. Come by and check out our telescope display. There will also be a wonderful constellations of the world display, how other areas of the planet earth view the constellations. Check out the website for more details AstroDay.

May 1st, 2010: CFHT will be represented at the Keiki Fest in Waimea being held at the Parker Ranch Center, downtown from 10am to 1pm. We hope to have the sunspotter and clear sky so you can see what activity there is on the Sun, and other activities.

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CFHT Corp. was ranked 14th this year in the 2010 Best Places to Work in the medium sized workplace category.

CFHT Best Place to Work

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Zoom around the Milky Way at different wavelengths with Chromoscope. You may also download it to your computer.

Chromoscope

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Here you will find a really huge poster detailing 50 years of Space Exploration.

Space Exploration Poster

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Available from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

The guide -- for educators, amateur astronomers, and everyone who would like to know more about the Earth's only natural satellite -- covers our scientific understanding of the Moon as a world, the appearance of the Moon in our skies, and tips for observing the Moon through binoculars or small telescopes. It also suggests a few ways to learn more about the Moon in popular culture and historical events.

An annotated list of resources for helping students and the public to understand and appreciate the Moon is now available on the web site of the nonprofit Astronomical Society of the Pacific at:

The Moon Guide

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1. Eclipses - There will be a partial lunar eclipse on the evening of June 25th. It will be completely visible from Hawaii if the skies are clear. It will be starting at 10:57pm and going until 4:19am on the 26th. If you stay up to watch this, you will see about 50% of the moon covered by the earth's shadow at 1:39am. There will also be a total solar eclipse on July 11th in the south pacific. You will have to be on a boat to see this event. Hawaii will not even see a partial eclipse on this date.
2. Meteor Showers - We have the Lyrids meteor shower peaking on the morning of April 22nd. The meteor shower predictions are for 20 meteors per hour. The moon will be just after first quarter and will set just after Midnight for a dark morning sky. This will be great for viewing this shower. The constellation Lyra is quite small but its bright star Vega is easily found. The lesser known Eta Aquarid Meteor shower will be peaking at 9pm on May 5th with 60 per hour predicted but perhaps worth getting up earlier that morning. The moon will be close to last quarter and so will interfere with this event and the constellation Aquarius is one of the more challenging to find. The Perseids will be peaking on August 12th at 2pm in the afternoon so best time to watch will be the morning of the 12th for several hours before sunrise. Predictions are for 90 meteors per hour and the moon will be a waxing cresent and will set fairly early in the evening. Remember this shower originates out of the constellation Perseus. For all these meteor showers best viewing time is midnight to sunrise early morning. Meteors should be visible for 1-2 days either side of the peak also. For more about watching meteor showers, check out the site for The American Meteor Society.
3. Comets - There are several challenging objects to find in the sky right now. First try looking for C/2009 K5 (McNaught). It is traveling from vulpecula, through cygnus, and into the constellation cepheus by months end. Use the finder and a pair of binoculars or a small telescope to see if you can find it. The second challenge is to look for 81P/Wild. It is currently in the constellation Virgo as seen in the finder. Look for more information on comets at the Comet Chasing Sky Hound website.
4. Planets - There will be many opportunities to see double- transits on Jupiter, on April 14th at 7:24pm, and April 21st at 8:02pm. Mercury's greatest elongation was on the evening of April 11th, but it will be 1.5 degrees away from the moon on April 15 right after sunset. Look for Venus near the moon on April 16th just after sunset, and the moon will be close to the Pleiades on the next evening, April 17th. Jupiter will be close to the moon in the morning of May 9th just before sunrise. Venus will be close to and occulted by the moon right around Midnight on May 15th but will be visible from Africa to Indonesia so we will merely see it close to the moon as it sets in the evening twilight. Look for Saturn to be close to the moon (8 degrees N) on the evening of May 22nd. At 1am on May 6th, you may catch a glimpse of Jupiter 7 degrees south of the moon. At 3am, Mars will be 0.9 degrees from the bright star Regulus. And just before sunrise look for Jupiter and Uranus close together in the morning sky.
5. Solstice - The summer solstice will occur at 1:28am the morning of May 21st.

All times listed above are HST unless otherwise indicated. The link below contains many calendars and includes a nice section on astronomical events. Check it out!

Calendars

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