The circular star compass is divided into four quadrants. From north to east is the quadrant Ko‘olau; south to west is the quadrant Kona; south to east is the quadrant Malanai; and north to west is the quadrant Ho‘olua.

The four-star houses called Manu sit in the center of each quadrant. The Ko‘olau and Kona quadrants reflect across and through the center of the compass.

The reflective nature of the northeast and southwest quadrants enables users of the star compass to incorporate wind and swell direction into their system of wayfinding.

Thus, Ko‘olau refers to the windward-facing side of the islands; Kona refers to the leeward-facing side of the islands as well as a southerly wind that blows from that direction. The words “Ko‘olau” and “Kona” are archaic directional indicators on traditional Polynesian wind compasses.

If you were on a canoe sailing south, a swell coming from the direction of Manu Ko‘olau on the star compass would gently lift up the left side of the canoe and roll through and exit the canoe’s right side as it made its way to the opposite quadrant and reentered the horizon in the direction of Manu Kona. The quadrants of Malanai and Ho‘olua lie directly across from each other and work in a similar arrangement as the quadrants of Ko‘olau and Kona.

When Samoa was first settled by Oceanic explorers arriving from a westward direction 3,000 years ago, they found the islands of Tokelau lay to the windward of Samoa and the islands of Tonga lay to the leeward of Samoa. The word “Ko‘olau” is the derivative for “Tokelau,” and the word “Kona” is the derivative for “Tonga.” The names of the last two quadrants of Malanai and Hoʻolua describe winds that blow from the edge of the horizon.

Stars move from the eastern horizon to the western horizon in a parallel direction. If the declination of a star (its north or south stellar latitude) does not match your actual physical latitude on the planet, the star will never pass over your head. The wind and the ocean swell, however, will always pass through the center of the canoe.

This is what makes the indigenous oceanic star compass functional, with its ability to accurately incorporate stars, sun, moon, planets, wind and swells into the cognitive system of orientation and direction finding.

Featured Mauna Kea discovery/observation

Astronomers utilizing the Keck Observatories on Mauna Kea observed a star system in the midst of a unique moment that will lead to an explosive event.

Astronomers are witnessing a star forming into a “teardrop” shape. This shape is caused by a smaller white dwarf star, the remnant of a dead star, which is siphoning off material from the outer layers of the first star and collecting that material onto the white dwarf’s surface.

While this siphoning action is just a consequence of gravity, it will quickly lead to doom for the whole system. When too much material is collected, the dead star’s core will reignite, leading to a thermonuclear explosion that will destroy both the white dwarf star and the neighbor teardrop star — this event is called a type 1a supernova.

To learn more about this research, visit keckobservatory.org/teardrop-star.

Special events

As late summer months approach, a number of astronomical events will occur. On the evening of Aug. 1, Saturn will be at opposition; this means that the planet will be on the opposite side of our sky from the sun.

Saturn will rise at the exact moment the sun sets and will be in our sky throughout the entire evening. Just over two weeks later, on Aug. 19, Jupiter will be at opposition and will be in the sky throughout the whole evening.

These dates will be the best time to view Saturn and Jupiter through a good pair of binoculars or through a telescope. You will be able to see some of the planets’ largest moons and might even be able to make out the beautiful cloud bands on the planets.

Every summer our sky is decorated with the beautiful Perseids meteor shower. This shower will be active from late July through mid-August, with a peak of activity occurring the morning of Aug. 12.

The shooting stars in this meteor shower are the remnants of material left from the comet Swift-Tuttle; when this comet last passed through the inner solar system in 1992, it left behind a cloud of dust and ice in Earth’s orbit. Every year, when Earth passes through this debris cloud, the dust and ice fall through our atmosphere and burn up, creating the shooting stars of the Perseids meteor shower.

At its peak we can expect 60-150 shooting stars per hour. The shooting stars will mostly travel across the sky from east to west, roughly originating from the constellation of Perseus, which will rise in the east.

Evening observations

The incredibly bright planet Venus will dominate the western horizon during the early evening.

Our “sister planet” is the third-brightest object that we’ll ever see in the sky, after the sun and the full moon.

As Venus is so bright, it will be the first object to appear in the western sky as the sun is setting. Venus is often referred to as the “evening star,” as it will stand out with its great brightness.

Stretching from Ko‘olau over our heads and down to Kona will be the spectacular band of the Milky Way galaxy. On a clear, dark night with little to no light pollution, you will see this fuzzy band light up the sky. The band could be mistaken initially for clouds, but as we look closer, we can clearly see stars in front of it.

We are a part of the Milky Way galaxy, as is every star that we see in the night sky. We see this fuzzy band in our sky as we are looking through the plane of the galaxy; this perspective allows us to see the other material making up our home galaxy.

In Hawaii, midsummer is ideal for viewing the Milky Way as we get a picturesque view of the “bulge” of the Milky Way, which will be rising out of Malanai. When we look toward this wider and brighter portion of the Milky Way band, we are looking in through the Sagittarius arm of the galaxy and into the central region of the Milky Way itself.

Researchers using the observatories of Mauna Kea are studying the supermassive black hole in this region, the center of our galaxy; this research is led by Andrea Ghez, who won the Nobel Prize in physics last year.

Rising with the Milky Way in the east will be the navigational starline of Manaiakalani. Manaiakalani is made up of three main components: Kamakaunuiamaui, the fishhook of Maui; Pimoe, an ulua swimming away from the fishhook; and the Navigator’s Triangle.

Morning observations

Throughout August the sun will rise just after 6 a.m., and dawn will begin to color the sky at about 5:15.

In these early morning hours, you will be able to catch the famous shape of Orion, Kaheiheionakeiki, as it rises in Hikina. In the direction of Malanai, the incredibly bright star ‘A‘a, or Sirius, will be highly noticeable in the sky as the sun rises.

August 2021 Sky Chart by Honolulu Star-Advertiser

The ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii is a center for informal science education at the University of Hawaii at Hilo showcasing astronomy and Hawaiian culture as parallel journeys of human exploration.