Honolulu - Each year the Watumull Planetarium at Bishop Museum provides a calendar of celestial events for the Hawaiian Islands. The dates and times of meteor showers, moon phases, eclipses etc. are provided in both Hawai'i Standard Time (HST) and in Universal Time.

Bishop Museum's Director of Education and Exhibits, Mike Shanahan explains, "Universal Time is ten hours ahead of HST, which can lead to some confusion if we don't take this time difference into account."

This overview provides information on the marking of the Makahiki or Hawaiian New Year, which is determined by a combination of the sunset rising of the Pleiades star cluster and the appearance of the Hilo Moon (first visible sliver of a moon after the new moon) that follows that sunset rising of the Pleiades.

Bishop Museum's Watumull Planetarium provides monthly star maps and Skywatch articles. They are also accessible at: http://www.bishopmuseum.org/planetarium/.

2009 is the International Year of Astronomy (IYA), sponsored by the International Astronomical Union and the United Nations. More information on worldwide celebrations at this site: http://www.astronomy2009.org/; for IYA programming, please visit http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/.

Hawai'i Sky Events 2009

January 3rd 5:00 am HST

Earth at perihelion (its nearest approach to the sun in its orbit).

January 26th

Annular solar eclipse (not visible in Hawai'i )

This eclipse starts at 6:06 Universal Time on January 26, 2009, which is in the evening of January 25, 2009 HST – after sunset in the islands. This eclipse is not visible from Hawai'i at all. The path of this annular eclipse runs across the southern Indian Ocean. For most of its run, this annular eclipse will pass over water; however, it will pass over the southern end of Sumatra and central Borneo right before local sunset on January 26. This eclipse will also be visible as a partial eclipse in the southern third of Africa and southeastern India. In Cape Town, South Africa, for example, well over half the sun will be blotted out by the moon around 8 am local time on January 26. The sun will set in partial eclipse in all of Australia, Southeast Asia and the Philippines on January 26.

Background: an annular eclipse is like a total eclipse except for one big difference: during an annular eclipse, the moon is too small to cover the sun entirely. Even when the moon is dead-center in the middle of the sun's disc, a ring of sunlight shines around the moon. The term "annular" comes from the Latin word for "ring." Why does this occur? The moon's orbit around the earth is an ellipse, not a perfect circle. There are times in the moon's orbit when it is closer to the earth and times when it is further away. If a solar eclipse occurs when the moon is at its farthest point from earth, the moon is just too small to cover the entire disk of the sun. During a total solar eclipse, the moon blocks the sun's disc entirely for a few moments, and darkness settles on the land. During an annular eclipse, there is only a little darkening.

For more information on all solar and lunar eclipses, please visit: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html.

February 9th 2:42 am HST

Penumbral lunar eclipse

The moon will pass through the outer or penumbral shadow of the earth. While we probably won't see the moon turn a deep copper color on February 9, as we often do during a full lunar eclipse, we should see a distinctive darkening on the northern half of the moon early on February 9. The darkening will start around 2:42 am with the darkest moment of the lunar eclipse occurring around 4:30 am HST. The eclipse will be over about 6:30 AM as dawn begins to break.

Like all lunar eclipses, this one will be visible across half the planet. All of Asia, Australia and New Zealand will see the penumbral lunar eclipse. For much of North America the eclipse will be in progress as the moon sets early on February 9. However, anywhere in the continental US from Chicago eastwards will not really be able to see any darkening of the moon before it sets around dawn on February 9.

March 8th

Daylight Saving Time begins for most of North America (not observed in Hawai'i ).

March 20th 1:44 am HST

Spring equinox

June 2009

All five planets will be visible in the sky in June 2009; Saturn in the evening sky, Jupiter in the sky from midnight till dawn, and Mercury, Venus and Mars in the pre-dawn morning sky

June 20 7:45 pm HST

Summer Solstice

July 3rd 4:00 pm HST

Aphelion - Earth is at the farthest point from the sun in its annual orbit.

July 6th – 7th

Penumbral lunar eclipse (not really visible anywhere, including Hawai'i )

Unlike the February penumbral eclipse, this one will not show any actual darkening of the moon. Only the edge of the moon passes through the outer or penumbral shadow of the earth, with no visible change to the moon's brightness. The deepest moment of eclipse will occur around 11:30 pm HST on July 6. This eclipse will not be a visible.

July 21st - 22nd

Solar Eclipse (visible as a partial eclipse in Hawai'i; total in Asia)

The eclipse of July 21-22 will be the deepest, longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, but not here in Hawai'i . Late in the afternoon on July 21 we will see a partial solar eclipse. From Honolulu (using a safe viewing filter) you will be able to see the moon start to take a small bite out of the sun at 5:00 pm. At the time of deepest eclipse, about 10 per cent of the sun's disk will be blocked by the moon. By 6:15 pm, roughly an hour before sunset, the eclipse will be over.

While a minor partial solar eclipse in Hawai'i , this will be a deep and dramatic total eclipse over parts of China, India and the South Pacific (in all those places, which on the other side of the international date line from Hawai'i, the eclipse falls on July 22). At the point of longest totality, the sun will completely blocked by the moon for 6 minutes and 39 seconds. In a reverse of the situation with January's annular eclipse, this solar eclipse occurs when the moon is especially near the earth, creating a particularly wide shadow of totality (150 miles). The total eclipse passes over central India, including the cities of Bhopal (where it will be total at 6:24 am local time) and Darjeeling. It then passes over parts of Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Burma (Myanmar). From there, the total eclipse moves in to China. Chengdu (the capital of Sichuan Province) and Shanghai are both directly in the path of totality. Chengdu will see the total phase around 9:11 am local time, and Shanghai's 19 million residents will be a full five minutes of totality around 9:36 am local time. The total eclipse passes over Iwo Jima and Japan's Ryukyu Islands before proceeding deeper into the South Pacific, where the total phase will last 6 minutes and 39 seconds. Once it hits the Pacific, the eclipse crosses over very little land, except for a few atolls in the Marshalls and Kiribati. For those parts of Asia that are not in the path of totality, this eclipse will be seen as a partial eclipse throughout most of Asia on July 22.

More information on all solar and lunar eclipses is located at NASA's eclipse web site: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html.

August 5 – 6th

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse (not visible in Hawai'i)

Another shallow penumbral lunar eclipse occurs on August 6, Universal Time. Like the penumbral lunar eclipse on July 6-7, this one is of academic interest only, and there will be no visible darkening of the moon. The lunar eclipse occurs around 1:50 pm on August 5 in Hawai'i, long before the moon rises above our horizon.

September 4th

Saturn's rings are exactly edge-on, and thus not visible at all through a telescope.

Sept 22nd 11:19 am HST

Autumnal equinox; fall begins.

November 1st

Daylight Saving Time ends (not observed in Hawai'i )

November 17th 5:47 pm HST

Pleiades, Makali'i, rise at sunset (Honolulu); this is the marker to start the Makahiki season, which starts with the first sliver of a visible moon that follows the new moon immediately after the sunset rising of the Pleiades. The Pleiades rise at sunset on the same day annually, but the moon's cycle is different each year.

November 18th

Makahiki (start of Hawaiian year)

The little sliver of a Hilo moon – the first view of the moon after a new moon, which we cannot see – occurs in 2009 on November 18, marking the start of the Hawaiian new year. This is as early as the Hawaiian year can start, since the Hilo moon appears one day after the sunset rising of the Pleiades.

Note: you cannot see the Pleiades rise at sunset, since the setting sun washes out the sky; for a faint cluster like the Pleiades, we need to wait about an hour after sunset before they become visible.

December 31st

Partial lunar eclipse (not visible in Hawai'i)

It's another penumbral lunar eclipse. Viewers in Africa, Europe and Asia may be able to tell that the moon darkens somewhat. The eclipse peaks around 7:00 pm on December 31, Universal Time. This eclipse occurs around 9:00 am on December 31 in the Hawaiian Islands, long before the moon rises here, which results in no visibility.

Dec 21st, 9:47 am HST

Winter Solstice

Moon Phases 2009

All times are in HST; for Universal Time, add 10 hours

Hawaii Standard Time

New Moon First Quarter Full Moon Last Quarter

Jan. 4, 1:56 AM Jan. 10, 5:27 PM Jan. 17, 4:46 PM

Jan. 25, 9:55 PM Feb. 2, 1:13 PM Feb. 9, 4:49 AM Feb. 16, 11:37 AM

Feb. 24, 3:35 PM Mar. 3, 9:46 PM Mar. 10, 4:38 PM Mar. 18, 7:47 AM

Mar. 26, 6:06 AM Apr. 2, 4:34 AM Apr. 9, 4:56 AM Apr. 17, 3:36 AM

Apr. 24, 5:23 PM May 1, 10:44 AM May 8, 6:01 PM May 16, 9:26 PM

May. 24, 2:11 AM May. 30, 5:22 PM June 7, 8:12 AM Jun 15, 12:15 PM

Jun. 22, 9:35 AM Jun. 29, 1:28 AM Jul. 6, 11:21 PM Jul. 14, 11:53 PM

Jul. 21 4:35 PM Jul. 28 12 Noon Aug. 5 2:55 PM Aug. 13, 8:55 AM

Aug. 20, 12:02 AM Aug. 27, 1:42 AM Sept. 4, 6:03 AM Sept. 11, 4:16 PM

Sept. 18, 8:44 AM Sept. 25, 6:50 PM Oct. 3, 8:10 PM Oct. 10, 10:56 PM

Oct. 17, 7:33 PM Oct. 25, 2:42 PM Nov. 2, 9:14 AM Nov. 9, 5:56 AM

Nov. 16, 9:14 AM Nov. 24, 11:39 AM Dec. 1, 9:30 PM Dec. 8, 2:13 PM

Dec. 16, 2:02 AM Dec. 24, 7:36 AM Dec. 31, 9:13 AM

Lahaina Noon Dates 2009

Every location in the tropics has two dates during the year when the sun is exactly overhead at local noon, known as L?haina noon.

Lihue May 31

12:35 p.m. July 11

12:42 p.m.

Kane'ohe May 27

12:28 p.m. July 15

12:37 p.m.

Honolulu May 26

12:28 p.m. July 15

12:37 p.m.

Kaunakakai May 25

12:24 p.m. July 17

12:34 p.m.

Lana'i City May 23

12:24 p.m. July 18

12:33 p.m.

Lahaina May 23

12:23 p.m. July 18

12:32 p.m.

Kahului May 24

12:22 p.m. July 17

12:32 p.m.

Hana May 23

12:20 p.m. July 18

12:30 p.m.

Hilo May 18

12:16 p.m. July 24

12:26 p.m.

Kailua-Kona May 17

12:20 p.m. July 24

12:30 p.m.

Meteor Showers

For all meteor showers, the viewing is better after midnight local time, when your part of the planet is facing in to the comet or asteroid debris that creates the shower. The moon is also a major factor in whether you can see a lot of meteors or not – the brighter and fuller the moon, the worse the viewing.

Here are the best viewing times for all of the major 2009 showers:

Quadrantids

Peak: January 3, 2:50 am, HST

Best viewing: Stay up late on the night of January 2nd; once you're past midnight, early on January 3rd, the viewing should get good. Viewing from the Hawaiian Islands should be especially good, since the peak occurs at 2:50 am HST on the morning of January 3, giving us several hours of good viewing before dawn. The moon sets by 11:30 pm on January 2nd, so it will not interfere. In a very dark sky you can see as many as a hundred meteors an hour.

Lyrids meteor shower

April 16 – 25

Peak of the shower: 1:00 am April 22, HST

Best viewing night: evening of April 21-22, 2008

Viewing should be good on the peak night, since the waning crescent moon does not rise till nearly 4:30 am HST early on April 22. It's only a sliver of light on that night. The Lyrids produce swift, bright meteors, often leaving trails. However, the rate is rather modest, usually 12 meteors or so per hour.

Eta Aquarids

April 19 – May 28

Peak: 2:00 pm May 5 HST

Best viewing night: May 5-6, although the nearly-full moon does not set till 4:00 am HST early on May 6 and will interfere with the meteors.

Perseids

July 17 – August 24

Peak: August 12, 10:00 am, HST

Best viewing night: August 11 – 12, although the last quarter moon will interfere from midnight till dawn. This is one of the most consistent showers, with up to sixty meteors per hour.

Orionids

October 2 – November 7

Peak: October 20 – 21

The moon is just past new, and sets early in the evening, so it will not interfere with this shower. The Orionids were especially strong in 2006 and 2007. You may be able to see up to 15 per hour early in the morning of October 21.

Leonid Meteor Shower

Peak: November 16-17 (night)

The Leonids peak every 33 years. Its peak in November 2001 was the most brilliant meteor shower in recent memory. However, the shower had dropped off substantially, and we don't expect a big show from the Leonids again till 2034. There is no moon during the peak of this shower.

Geminids

December 7 – 17, 2009

Peak: 5:00 pm December 13th HST

Best viewing: the night of December 13-14. Peak occurs during new moon. Geminids are generally at least as good as the summer Perseids, but don't get as much attention, perhaps because they happen in a season where the weather is cloudy in much of the northern hemisphere. Not a problem for us in the Hawaiian Islands, of course.