It is with profound sadness to inform you, our valued Skywatch readers, that our dear friend and colleague, Kalepa Baybayan, died from natural causes while visiting and caring for ohana in Seattle on April 8.

A pwo navigator, an educator and co-author of Skywatch, he sailed numerous voyages, traversing thousands of miles, many as one of the lead captains and navigators of the worldwide voyage from 2014-17.

Baybayan’s legacy of education, his words and his teachings will remain with us for generations to come.

Navigational star lines by Kalepa Baybayan:

Many a night I have spent on the ocean following the sweep of Kaiwikuamo‘o, the Backbone, from Hokupa‘a (Polaris) in the north to Hanaiakamalama (Southern Cross) in the south.

On numerous journeys north on our return to the Hawaiian Islands, I would rely on the two pointer stars in Nahiku (Big Dipper), Hikukahi (Duhbe) and Hikulua (Merak) to point the direction north toward Hokupa‘a.

I was filled with a sense of reassurance that they would always lead me home and back to my family. Each night, the Southern Cross would get closer to the horizon as it passed through the celestial meridian, and eventually the top and bottom stars of the Southern Cross would become equidistant to the horizon, approximately 6 degrees or 2-1/2 fingers above the horizon. The navigators would turn the canoe west, and we would speed toward the Hawaiian Islands.

Hokupa‘a, the North Star, forms the end of the handle of the Little Dipper. The Big Dipper is positioned above the Little Dipper when it is rising in the east, with each of the scoops facing and pouring their contents into each other.

The handle of the Big Dipper points toward Arcturus, the red giant Hokule‘a, the zenith star for Hawaii and brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere. We follow the flow south and we cross the celestial equator, coming to the binary star Hikianalia, Spica in the constellation Virgo.

Even with the use of a telescope, you cannot distinguish the binary, two-star nature of Spica.

The next constellation is the trapezoidal shaped Me‘e, Corvus the Crow. An imaginary line drawn through the center of Corvus points toward the top of the Southern Cross.

The Southern Cross is a unique asterism; when upright it points toward the south celestial pole. Unlike the north celestial pole, which has a star, Polaris, marking a point fairly close to its northern location, the south celestial pole does not have a star to help identify south.

In the visible night sky, you can find the south celestial pole by identifying the empty spot the southern stars orbit around; however, this works only if you are south of the equator and able to see the southern horizon.

The last two stars in the Kaiwikuamo‘o star family are Alpha and Beta Centauri, the pointer stars to the Southern Cross; these stars will be rising later in the evening through May. From the eastern horizon, Alpha and Beta Centauri follow the Southern Cross and point toward the top of the cross. At 4.37 light-years away, Alpha Centauri is the closest star and planetary system to Earth’s solar system.

Special events:

In Hawaii we are fortunate to experience a unique event called Lahaina noon.

On a few days out of the year, the sun will rise to the exact center of the sky (known as the zenith) and will be as high in the sky as it is going to be. At the time of the zenith sun, or Lahaina noon, objects that have smooth sides will cast no shadow on the ground.

Slight changes in latitude across Hawaii causes different parts of the state to experience Lahaina noon on different dates, but we will all experience two Lahaina noons: one before the summer solstice and one after.

In Honolulu the first Lahaina noon will occur May 26 at 12:28 p.m.; the second will be on July 15 at 12:37 p.m. In Hilo the first Lahaina noon can be observed May 18 at 12:16 p.m. and the second on July 24 at 12:26 p.m.

THE EVENING of May 26 to the early morning of May 27 will be an eventful night for the moon.

We will experience the year’s second supermoon as the moon will be passing through its closest physical position to Earth, which is known as perigee. As the moon passes through this position, it will often appear a little bigger in the evening sky.

On the same evening, the moon will pass through Earth’s shadow in a total lunar eclipse which will be visible across Hawaii. As these two lunar events are occurring simultaneously, they may be dramatically referred to as a “super blood moon.”

In Honolulu the lunar eclipse will begin May 26 at 10:47 p.m. This will start with the moon taking on a dim, gray color as the moon enters Earth’s outer shadow, or penumbra; when the moon is only in Earth’s outer shadow, the event is referred to as a penumbral eclipse.

Sections of the moon will begin to dim and get red at 11:44 p.m. as the partial eclipse begins. At 1:11 a.m. May 27, the moon will cross into Earth’s full shadow and take on a deep reddish color as it enters the total lunar eclipse; this portion of the eclipse will last only about 14 minutes, with the maximum eclipse occurring at 1:18 a.m.

The total eclipse, when the moon is fully red, will end at 1:25 a.m. The partial eclipse, when the moon is partially red, will end at 2:25 a.m. Finally, the penumbral eclipse, when the moon is a dim gray color due to being in Earth’s outer shadow, will end at 3:49 a.m.

Total lunar eclipses are frequently given the dramatic name of “blood moon” because the moon takes on a deep red color as it passes through Earth’s shadow. But why does the moon turn red and not black?

Earth’s atmosphere refracts, or bounces, light onto the surface of the moon. This red color will get filtered by the various particles within our atmosphere, which can alter the intensity of the reddish color.

Evening observations

As Kaiwikuamo‘o centers itself in our sky, the winter star line Kekaomakali‘i will set in the west during the early evening. The components that make up the winter star line include Orion, Hokulei and the bright star ‘A‘a (Sirius).

Setting along with the star line Kekaomakali‘i will be the planets Mars and Mercury.

Mercury is often the most difficult planet to observe due to its proximity to the sun. The best night to view Mercury will be May 16 when the planet will be at its greatest eastern elongation.

Mars will stand out with its distinctive red color as it sits north of the shape of Orion and just east of the twin stars Nanamua and Nanahope (Castor and Pollux).

Morning observations

As we enter the spring season, the days get noticeably longer once again at the beginning of May; the sun will rise at about 6 a.m., and by the end of April the sun will rise at 5:50 a.m. with dawn coloring the sky at about 5 a.m.

Celestial observers who prefer the early morning sky will see a very different section of the sky from evening observers.

In these early morning hours, the most notable objects will be the two largest planets in the solar system, Jupiter and Saturn. These two distinctive planets will be the final objects to fade into the light of dawn as the sun rises, and can be viewed climbing out of the southeastern sky in the early morning hours.

May 2021 Sky Chart by Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Chad Kalepa Baybayan (Kalepa.Baybayan@hawaii.edu) was navigator-­in-residence and Emily Peavy (Emily.Peavy@ hawaii.edu) is planetarium technician support facilitator at the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii, a center for informal science education at the University of Hawaii at Hilo showcasing astronomy and Hawaiian culture as parallel journeys of human exploration.