Every year Bishop Museum’s J. Watumull Planetarium provides a calendar of astronomical events specifically for Hawaii’s location and time zone.
The 2014 list of astronomy events is on our Bishop Museum planetarium home page: www.bishopmuseum.org/planetarium/highlights2014.html
This calendar is useful because it gives times in Hawaii Standard Time for key events like eclipses and other sky events, and it lists days and times for such Hawaii-specific events as the "overhead sun" days and the start of makahiki season.
Of particular note in 2014: We will have not one but two total lunar eclipses visible from the Hawaiian islands. The first will occur on the evening of April 14, roughly 8 to 11:30 p.m. The second occurs from 11:15 p.m. Oct. 7 to about 2:30 a.m. Oct. 8. So mark your calendars!
Planets in February
Since Venus has moved to the morning sky, Jupiter stands unchallenged as the most brilliant dot in February’s evening sky. Look for it early in February about halfway up in the east at dusk; it will cross the top of the sky about 10:40 p.m. and sets about 5:15 a.m. The planet will appear a little higher at dusk each night; by the end of February Jupiter will be two-thirds of the way up in the east at dusk, crosses the meridian by 8:40 p.m., and sets around 3:15 a.m.
Look for a the waxing gibbous moon close to Jupiter on the evening of Feb. 10-11.
Venus is now a morning light and will be absolutely brilliant in the February predawn sky. Look for Venus rising in the east around 5:10 a.m. at the start of February; the planet will be only about 20 degrees above the east horizon as day breaks about 6:40 a.m. By the end of the month, Venus comes up around 4:10 a.m. and is about one-third of the way up in the east at daybreak.
Look for the old waning crescent moon to the right of Venus early on the morning of Feb. 25.
Saturn remains a bright light in the heart of the night. The ringed planet rises in the east at 1:30 a.m. at the start of February and is well over halfway up in the east at daybreak. By the end of February, Saturn rises about 11:45 p.m., crossing the meridian (when it’s due south) about 5:15 a.m. and vanished into the breaking day soon afterward. Saturn shines in front of the faint stars of Libra.
Look for the waning gibbous moon next to Saturn early on Feb. 21.
At the start of February, Mercury is in the midst of its best evening appearance of the year. On Feb. 1 look for the planet in the west about 10 degrees (the width of one palm) above the horizon at dusk. You’ll have nearly an hour to see the planet before it sets at 7:40 p.m. By Feb. 7 the planet barely appears at dusk (7:05 p.m.) before it sets at 7:25 p.m.
After that, we’ve lost the planet.
Mars rises in the east around 11:30 p.m. at the start of February, and high in the south by 5 a.m. and by the end of the month Mars rises at 9:45 p.m., crosses the meridian at 3:45 a.m., and is halfway down in the west at daybreak. Mars is heading for peak brilliance in early April.
Look for the waning gibbous moon next to Mars on the night of Feb. 18-19.
Lovers’ moon
The moon is full this Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14. The last time the moon was full on Feb. 14, was 46 years ago, in 1968.
February sky map
The sky map is good for 11 p.m. in early February and 9 p.m. at the end of the month.
All of the great winter constellations are visible high in the west, including Taurus, Orion, Canis Major, Auriga, and the Gemini. Jupiter remains in the heart of the Gemini and is almost exactly in the center of the sky.
Low in the south is Canopus, the second-brightest star. This is a good example of a star that is too low to be seen from much of the continental United States; from our latitude in the islands we get a good view of it, at least if you have a clear southern horizon.
In the northeast, the Big Dipper has returned to our Hawaiian night sky.
The star map sky shows one of those rare cases when both the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia are in the sky at the same time. These two are on near-opposite sides of the North Star, so you always have one or the other in the sky at any given time; but on our map, you can briefly catch them.
Leo the Lion has also returned to our February sky, and you can also spot the False Cross in the south. The False Cross combines two stars from Vela the Sail and two stars from Carina the Keel to make a crosslike shape that is occasionally mistaken for the true Southern Cross, which is up in the south-southeast up by 1:45 a.m. in early February and before midnight by the end of the month.
For more information, go to www.bishopmuseum.org/planetarium/planetarium.html
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Mike Shanahan is director of Education, Exhibits and Planetarium.
