You can’t stop Hawaiian from being a part of the heavens now that Hawaiian words are used to describe new discoveries.

There is the asteroid discovered in 2017, Oumuamua, meaning scout, being out there in the front. University of Hawaii professor Larry Kimura helped name a deep-space detection system at Maunakea, “namakanui,” named after big-eyed fish that swim in the Hawaiian waters at night.

Kimura provided a name for the black hole made visible by a composite of telescopes, including the James Clerk Maxwell telescope on Maunakea. He called it Powehi, a powerful, unfathomable and ceaseless creation befitting someone who would wear a crown,

How fitting that this term would be inspired by the Kumulipo that was translated by Queen Liliuokalani. She wrote: “The ancient Hawaiians were astronomers.” How true.

Thank to Professor Kimura, for putting Hawaiian on the map of the universe.

Jean Toyama

Downtown Honolulu

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