A Darker View

When you want to see the stars, seek out someplace dark

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A Night Under Mauna Kea Skies

Mar 14, 2010 10:00pm

An eagerly awaited weekend, a new Moon, a couple telescopes, and dark Mauna Kea skies... all the ingredients for a great night of observing. We had a plan, to participate in another maniacal effort to view all of the objects on a list first published over two centuries ago. ...

Postcard from the Reef - Needles

Mar 13, 2010 12:00am

Watch where you put your hands, the rocks have spines... A Needle-Spined Urchin (Echinostrephus aciculatus) at 25ft off of Puako...

Postcard from the Summit - Telescopes in the Dawn

Mar 12, 2010 12:00am

CFHT and Gemini telescopes at dawn...

Keck Locates Smallest Known Binary Star System

Mar 11, 2010 10:00am

W.M Keck Observatory Release... Astronomers using the W. M. Keck Observatory have identified the smallest known binary system to date. The system, called HM Cancri, consists of two dead stars that revolve around each other in 5.4 minutes, by far the shortest known orbital period of any pair of stars. A depiction...

Postcard from the Reef - Wavy Cave Sponge

Mar 11, 2010 12:00am

There are reportedly 84 identified species of sponge1 in Hawaiian waters, and likely many more undiscovered. Identifying sponges properly is beyond the realm of the casual diver. But even so, they are worth noting, their colors and shapes add a great deal to the interest of the reef... Wavy...

Wordless Wednesday - Cave

Mar 10, 2010 12:00am

Looking back to the entrance to a cave at 40ft off of Puako...

Postcard from the Reef - Ambush

Mar 9, 2010 12:00am

Even with the bright orange lips, I did not see this fish until I was right on top of it and it moved. Lizardfish rely on their camouflage to catch prey, pouncing from ambush. Like many ambush hunters they tend to stay still, even when a noisy diver...

Globe at Night

Mar 8, 2010 11:00am

Looking up at the sky from any major city is a disheartening experience. Gone are the starry treasures of the night sky, hidden from view by the glow of so many artificial light sources. Disheartening also is to realize that so much of that light pollution is completely...

Diving Puako

Mar 8, 2010 12:00am

The Puako, End of Road, dive site was busy. A Sunday morning had vehicles parking in any available spot amongst the trees, every one belonging to a local diver. Five guys from Keck, our usual group. But also a lot of other familiar faces... local biologist,...

Sunday Comics

Mar 7, 2010 12:00am

Comic by xkcd licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License Continue reading "Sunday Comics"...

Waikoloa Burning... Again

Mar 6, 2010 2:27pm

Just as Deb and I are returning from Waimea for the day, we get word of yet another fire near Waikoloa. At least the upper road was still open, though the lower was closed. The fire conditions are bad today, stiff trade winds and extraordinary dry conditions on...

West Hawaii Astronomy Club Meeting

Mar 6, 2010 11:00am

This month's meeting will feature Josh Walawender of the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawai'i Hilo. He will be talking about projects that are using relatively small telescopes to do research... Mauna Kea isn't the only mountain on the Big Island to host an observatory. The NOAA...

History Written in Lava Bombs and Cinder

Mar 6, 2010 12:00am

A stroll anywhere on the island is a lesson in geology for an observant hiker. Much of the Big Island is a raw land where the bones of the earth show through. Lava flows, pu'u, craters, and the massive volcanoes dominate the landscape. On the older areas...