Mokule'ia and Molokai - Hawaiian star trails and star tales

Some people travel to Oahu's famed North Shore to surf the Banzai Pipeline, created by waves rising steeply as they climb a shallow reef about 150 yards offshore. The coral reef causes the entire wave to curl mockingly, beckoning the daring surfer boys and girls inside its mighty coil for a thrilling ride. Me, I go to the North Shore for an entirely different reason - to catch the light waves from distant worlds as they reflect off my telescope mirror and ride into my eyepiece. I surf the dark Hawaiian skies in search of visual thrills. My tale begins here. Pull up your armchair, your map and your southern sky star charts and join me, won't you? You won't need any suntan lotion or bug spray on this trip.

The spectacular Hawaiian vocal duo, Hapa, sing a beautiful and harmonic song about special places. "There's a special place I know, on this island that I go, when I need some time, for peace of mind or when I'm feeling low. It's a place I like to go, to get away and be alone. To where I feel the love and blessings of Manoa in the rain. Manoa in the rain. May I be with you again?" Mokule'ia is an hour's drive from downtown Honolulu on the North Shore. It is shielded from the light pollution by the flat topped Waianae Summit of Mt. Kaala, the highest peak (4024 feet) of the Wai'anae Range on Oahu. Near Mokule'ia Beach Park, within earshot of gentle ocean waves breaking on the offshore coral reef is a special place I know and it is made just for stargazers. The H.A.S. monthly dark sky star party site is just down the road from here, at the Dillingham Airfield. My sentimental reason for bringing my telescope over to Hawaii was to celebrate its 50th observing session and six month (belated) birthday at the monthly HAS star party with my pals. I was lucky enough to get in 4 observing nights and 5 star parties in our 50th State. Number 50 occurred on the first of two star parties on the friendly island of Molokai - the darkest site and most productive of my sessions on this trip.

Top Mokule'ia and Dillingham observations: 12.5 inch reflectors at 65 (22 & 27mm Panoptic) to 202 (9 & 12mm Nagler) power. Seeing: 6 on a scale of 10. Transparency: 5 to 6 on a scale of 10. May 22/23, 1998

Pluto at 200X and 125X. Thanks to Pluto purveyors Walter and Warren for the star maps we used to verify and observe the planet and track its movement with respect to the background stars for verification! It moved! Pluto proof enough for me!

Antennae galaxy NGC 4028 and 4039 near Corvus. We could see the antennae!

The triangular asterism (with a triangle of stars within) near M104, the Sombrero galaxy. Called the Starship asterism in May '98 S&T. I claim it as my own!

Collinder 399, Brocchi's cluster or the Coathanger asterism -a favorite binocular object of mine.

R Corvi, red long period variable star within the Corvus shopping cart shaped trapeziod.

Ghost of Jupiter m 7.7 NGC 3242 ,m 12.7 NCG 2610 planetaries in Hydra. Mag 10.2 NGC 5694 too.

M97 and 108, M109, M40, M101 and NGC 3034 in Ursa Major, eyes, arms, and dust lanes galore.

M51 the Whirlpool galaxy in Canes Venatici - ahhhhhhh! What a difference a dark site makes!

NGC 4565 Berenices hair pin in Coma Berenices, a favorite of mine and a crowd pleaser to boot!

NGC 4656 and 4657 (the Hockey Stick galaxy) and NGC 4631 and 4627 - the Bat and Ball galaxies (or Whale and Calf) in Canes Venatici.

Messier requests from H.A.S members M3, 11, 13, 16, 17, 57, 63, 64, 106, E Lyra double double.

NGC 4567 and 4568 - the Siamese Twins in Virgo (plus 20 or so of the Virgo galaxy hops published in the May newsletter). Virgo pair mag 11.9 NGC 5740 and mag 5746 and the famous 9 galaxy view surrounding M84 and M86 in Virgo, of course. Hooray for the wide view of my favorite 22mm Panoptic eyepiece - delicious!! Coupled with dark skies, who could ask for more? Not me!

Ever been to Molokai? I hadn't! Molokai is part of a single land mass formed during the last ice age when the sea level was low enough to drain the narrow straits separating it from Maui, Lana'i and Kaho'olawe. Six to seven shield volcanoes make up this group. Our two observing spots were some that members of the HAS frequent on neighbor isle star parties. Our first site was initially recommended by Jack and Cheryl, our Molokai Bed and Breakfast hosts, Canadians who escaped to this peaceful place. I'll return to Molokai just for a slice of giant papaya and warm poi bread, served with a smile and a story! Kawela (pronounced Kavela) was an ideal whale watching spot as well as a fantastic observing site. One of the deeply eroded gulches of the East Molokai Volcano, it faced due south. Up we drove. Then we just pointed our telescopes over the water for a direct line to Crux and Omega Centauri and the other magnificent wonders visible at this 21st degree latitude.

For a geology nut like me, the daytime playtime of sand sculpture in the rough beige coral sand followed by a soak in the warm coral reef studded (ouch!) ocean was almost as much fun as the stargazing. Our island drive took us past roadcuts of deep red laterite paleosoil. This ancient soil separated the tholeiite basalt which erupted during the early shield-building stage in the life of the volcano below and the alkalic basalt that erupted late in its life. This red weathered soil took many thousands of years to decompose, giving a sense of time and place to the island and its geologic history. Incredible! Black basalt flows, sloping cinder cones and skeletal remains of thick oozey trachyte lava flows puffed into domes here and there. The western side of the island was the site of our second star party, our night in Paniolo Camp at the Molokai Ranch. We made a trade: fancy "tent-alows" for a star show for the vacationing guests, who pooped out by 10:00 pm. The West Molokai volcano, Maunaloa is separated from the East volcano by a low "saddle", formed where the lava flows from the younger volcano lapped against the flanks of the older one. "Saddle Road" on Hawaii is the site of the lap between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa volcanoes. Maui and Lanai are visible offshore. At night we could see across the Kaiwi channel to Oahu, 25 miles away. Now on to the star shows. Molokai Ranch has their own LITEBOX 12.5 inch telescope just like mine and trained staff. Here's what we saw on Molokai:

Top Molokai observations: 12.5 inch reflectors at 65 to 202 power. Seeing 6 of 10. Transparency 6, improving to 7 (for northern objects) of 10 on both nights. May 26/27, 1998

Alpha Centauri A&B, Beta Centauri - a friendly double welcome, southern style. Brilliant above the ocean.

The Coal Sack dark nebula east of Crux, Cor Caroli - the double Alpha Canum Venaticorum

Carbon star Espin-Birmingham 365 - 2 degrees west of Beta Crucis, the eastern star of the Southern Cross) one of the deepest red carbon stars - I'll have to try my star spectrascope on these! and

Carbon star Y Canum Venaticorum (4 degrees NE of Beta Canum Venaticorum) - rich and dark bloody red stars - check out Brian Skiff's May 1998 S&T Carbon Star observing project. I did!

NGC 5128 Centaurus radio galaxy - (also called Centaurus A or the Hamburger Galaxy - you'll know why when you see it!)

Barnard 86, and NGC 6520 open cluster plus dark nebula 5 degrees due south of M8, Lagoon nebula (nicknamed Barnard's inkspot)

NGC 6302 the mag 9.6 Bug Nebula in Scorpius. A fascinating object to study!

The Table of Scorpius clusters NGC 6124, 6231 - lines and clusters and clumps and colors and double stars, oh my, IC4628+Trumpler 24 or H12 - the tail of 6231, NGC 6242, NGC 6334 this area marks one of the Milky Way spiral arm courses. The nebula filter brought out emission nebula here.

NGC 6389 - tiny cluster and much fainter than its mag 11.1 suggests (14 mag in some catalogues)

NGC 6337 - very tiny and faint planetary nebula at mag 14.8

Corona Australis - The Southern Crown mag 13.1 cluster NGC 6541

Omega Centauri globular cluster - yes it is spectacular!! Will compare it to 47 Tucanae next year!

The Running Chicken nebula and the Centaurus cluster, IC 2944 - is there a better moniker than this??

NGC 7006 - Nice mag 10.6 globular cluster in Delphinus, NGC 6826, the mag 8.8 Blinking Planetary in Cygnus

NGC 4755 Jewel Box open cluster in Crux - spectacular color in these starry jewels!, Spindle Galaxy NGC 3115 in Sextans

NGC 6352, 6262, 6208, 6204, 6195 and 6397 clusters, 6215&6221 spirals, 6188 bright and dark nebulosity with cluster 6193 in Ara - how low can you go??

It was time to pack up the telescopes for our morning flights home. The melodic softness of my favorite Keali'i Reichel tune, Kauanoeanuhea was playing on the pavillion speaker system, capturing everything I love about Hawaii. "Auhea wale ana oe E Kauanoeanuhea" Where are you, O cool, fragrant mist?

The Summer Milky Way was overhead. I dragged the blanket from my tent, grabbed my binoculars and stretched out for an hour or so after we quit for the night. The Cygnus spiral arm enclosed my universe, exploding with visible starstuff. I saw dozens of clusters, the North America nebula, the Veil nebula, lots of meteors, in the quiet peaceful dark of this very special place. Then I spotted Jupiter rising in the eastern sky. I knew my time on this island was nearly over. That's my tale of star trails! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed experiencing it!