The Hawaiian Sky
Written for 
rosefox's request for "something beautiful" for the big 35th birthday...
#3
After a week in Hawaii with every night disappointingly cloudy I finally saw the night sky as we flew out of Honolulu and rose above the clouds. In northern latitude states you can only barely see the constellation Scorpius if the horizon is flat. You'll see a red star first, Antares, with blue ones above and below it, then above them a horizontal row of three stars - this horizontal row connects to the claws, with the vertical row including Antares being the body. These are all right on the horizon, so that even the slightest bit of hills, trees, or buildings block them, so I've never actually seen Scorpius from NYC, only from hilltops or plains in other northern states.
As we rose above the clouds though, I saw a hook of faint stars on the horizon, curling to the left from something above them. I looked up further and saw a bright red star, fainter blue ones above and below it, and looking up further a row going sideways of three more stars. The hook was what haole call the tail of Scorpius, and it was the first time I had ever seen it in my life. It is also what I now know is Maui's Fishhook - the god Maui is a fisherman, and with his hook one day he hooked into the ground and pulled the islands of Hawaii up out of the ocean. You can see this when sailing on the ocean headed southbound, you can actually see Maui's fishhook pulling the islands up out of the ocean as you approach them.
I didn't try to take a picture of this out the window of the plane - with the cameras I had with me it would not have been possible, besides no camera can capture the wonder of seeing a new sky for the first time.
Originally posted on Dreamwidth.
comments there. Comment here or there.
rosefox's request for "something beautiful" for the big 35th birthday...
#3
After a week in Hawaii with every night disappointingly cloudy I finally saw the night sky as we flew out of Honolulu and rose above the clouds. In northern latitude states you can only barely see the constellation Scorpius if the horizon is flat. You'll see a red star first, Antares, with blue ones above and below it, then above them a horizontal row of three stars - this horizontal row connects to the claws, with the vertical row including Antares being the body. These are all right on the horizon, so that even the slightest bit of hills, trees, or buildings block them, so I've never actually seen Scorpius from NYC, only from hilltops or plains in other northern states.
As we rose above the clouds though, I saw a hook of faint stars on the horizon, curling to the left from something above them. I looked up further and saw a bright red star, fainter blue ones above and below it, and looking up further a row going sideways of three more stars. The hook was what haole call the tail of Scorpius, and it was the first time I had ever seen it in my life. It is also what I now know is Maui's Fishhook - the god Maui is a fisherman, and with his hook one day he hooked into the ground and pulled the islands of Hawaii up out of the ocean. You can see this when sailing on the ocean headed southbound, you can actually see Maui's fishhook pulling the islands up out of the ocean as you approach them.
I didn't try to take a picture of this out the window of the plane - with the cameras I had with me it would not have been possible, besides no camera can capture the wonder of seeing a new sky for the first time.
Originally posted on Dreamwidth.
comments there. Comment here or there.