SKYWATCH ARTICLE
JUNE 2002
For
the second time in six months, we’ll have partial eclipse of the sun in
HawaiÔi. The eclipse occurs on June
10. At 1:04 PM on that Monday
afternoon, in Honolulu, the moon will begin to move across the sun’s
disk. By eclipse maximum at 2:42
PM, 52 per cent of the sun will be blocked by the moon. The moon will then slowly uncover the
sun, and the eclipse will end at 4:06 PM.
This
eclipse will be visible around the islands, and all locations will have roughly
50 per cent of the sun blocked out during maximum eclipse. In Kahului, Maui, the times for
the eclipse are almost identical to the times for Honolulu. In Hilo, on the other hand, first
contact occurs at 1:17 PM, maximum coverage occurs around 12:47 PM, and the
eclipse ends at 4:10 PM. In Līhue,
Kaua‘i, first contact occurs around 1 PM and the eclipse ends at around
4:10 PM.
This
event is not as “deep” as the one that occurred over the Hawaiian
Islands last December 14—when 79 per cent of the sun was
covered—but the weather might be better this June. Depending on where you were in islands,
the weather last December 14 ranged from slightly hazy to completely cloudy.
The
June 2002 eclipse will not be a total eclipse anywhere in the world. Like last December’s eclipse, this
one occurs when the moon is a little further away from the earth than
average. Because the moon is a
little further away, it is just too small to cover the entire sun. Even when the moon appears dead-center
in the sun’s disk, a ring of sunlight—the “ring of
fire”—still shines around the moon. Such eclipses are called “annular,” from the
Latin word for “ring.”
The
June eclipse will be seen as an annular eclipse in a very narrow path that
starts in Indonesia and runs across the northern Pacific to the west coast of
Mexico. Remarkably, this path
avoids land almost entirely during its pass across the Pacific. The annular eclipse will be visible
from parts of Saipan and Tinian in the western Pacific. It will pass some 1800 miles north of
the Hawaiian Island chain, and will touch land again on the west coast of
Mexico, 20 miles south of Puerto Vallerta. There, the sun will set just as the annular phase of the
eclipse ends.
The
width of this annular path will vary from 10 miles to about 55 miles, depending
on the location. The annular phase
(when the ring of fire appears around the moon) will last from a mere 23
seconds to well over a minute, also depending on location.
While
this eclipse will appear as an annular eclipse only in this tiny band across
the Pacific ocean, a huge region of the world will see this event as a partial
eclipse.
While
the eclipse occurs in Hawai‘i and North America on June 10, is actually
begins in Asia on June 11! On the
morning of June 11, the eclipse passes over eastern China, Japan, Korea,
Vietnam, and Indonesia. The
eclipse then crosses the International Date Line. By the time the eclipse hits HawaiÔi the date will have
flipped to June 10.
The
entire west of the US and Canada will see this partial eclipse in its
entirety. Coverage of the
sun’s disk will range from about 40 percent in the Pacific Northwest to
70 per cent in Southern California.
Viewers
in the middle of the nation (from Texas to the central northeast) will see some
of this partial eclipse, though the sun will set before the eclipse is
done. In Dallas, for example, 60
per cent of the sun will be covered as the sun sets.
There
is no chance of catching this eclipse at all on the eastern seaboard. From Quebec City down through Boston,
New York, DC and Miami, the sun will already have set before the eclipse
begins.
HawaiÔi does have an advantage over the mainland during this eclipse: since it occurs
in mid-afternoon in the islands, the sun will be high in the sky. By the time the eclipse passes over
North America it will be quite late in the afternoon, and the chances of
interference from horizon clouds will be greater.
It
is never safe to view a partial or annular eclipse of the sun directly. In my experience, the most
satisfactory, inexpensive safe viewing device is the “sun peep,”
available at our Bishop Museum Shop Pacifica for $2. These filters give a safe view of the sun and allow you to
see the sun in living color.
Other safe viewing techniques can be found on our Bishop Museum
Planetarium homepage.
Bishop Museum program:
We’ll
present “The Eclipse Show” in our planetarium at 11:30 AM on
Saturday June 8, Sunday June 9, and Monday June 10. This replaces the regular “Explorers of Mauna
Kea” on those three days.
“The Eclipse Show” explores the reasons for eclipses of the
sun and moon, goes into some of the history and lore of eclipses, and gives a
sneak preview of the December total eclipse.
The
first total solar eclipse in 18 months occurs on December 4, 2002. Like the last one in June of 2001, this
one occurs over the southern part of Africa. This total eclipse will also be visible at sunset over
southern Australia.
Prospects
for this December 4 eclipse are mixed: it occurs during the rainy season in
southern Africa, and the total phase will be visible for only about thirty
seconds in Australia. That said,
the other total solar eclipses between now and 2006 are less than promising. The December 2002 eclipse may be the
best bet until March 29, 2006, when a deep total solar eclipse crosses the
northern half of Africa and passes through Turkey.
For
more information about the June and December 2002 eclipses, go to the Eclipse
Page at the NASA/Goddard Sun/Earth Connection Education Forum:
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/eclipse.html
The
page is maintained by Fred Espanak—“Mr. Eclipse”—and is
a great resource for information on solar and lunar eclipses.
Summer starts on June 21, at 3:25 AM, HST.
At
the start of June, two of the five planets in May’s grand
gathering—Mercury and Saturn—will no longer be visible. Looking west in the first week of June
around sunset, you will still see an eye-catching sight. The two brightest planets, Venus and
Jupiter, are in conjunction at the start of the month. Look for them in the west from 7:45 to
about 9:15 PM. On June 2, the two
planets appear closest, only about 2.5 degrees apart. Venus is the brighter of the two. Look for the two planets about one third of the way up in
the west as it gets dark enough to see the planets.
Mercury
Mercury
is not visible in early June. It
passed between the earth and the sun on May 27. Look for Mercury in the east at about 5 AM from June 20
onwards. From June 20 to 30,
Mercury works its way across the face of Taurus the Bull and down into the
bull’s horns in the predawn sky.
At the end of the month, Mercury draws close to Saturn. By July 2, the two planets will be less
than one degree apart from each other in the early morning sky.
Venus
Venus
remains a brilliant evening star all month, the brightest dot of light in the
western sky. The planet starts the
month at minus 3.86 magnitude and gets up to minus 3.96 by the end of the
month. Venus sets at 9:30 PM at
the beginning of the month and 9:45 PM at the end of June.
Mars
The
Red Planet continues its long fadeout.
Look for Mars in the west about 8 PM at the start of June. It shines at 1.72 magnitude. By the end of the month the planet is
almost gone; you might catch a glimpse of it around 7:45 PM, emerging from the
dusk just as the planet sets. Once
Mars leaves us at the end of June, we will not see it again until Mars becomes
a morning star in September.
Jupiter
starts the month in conjunction with Venus, about one third of the way up in
the western sky at dusk. As the
month goes on, Venus speeds away from Jupiter. Jupiter will seem to be a little closer to the setting sun
every night. By the end of June,
you’ll have to look quickly to see the planet around dusk; it will set in
the north northwest by 8 PM.
Uranus
The
planet Uranus is in the constellation of Aquarius, and rises around 12:15 AM at
the start of June and around 10:15 PM at the end of June.
Neptune
is in Capricornus and rises around 11 PM at the start of June and at 9 PM at
the end of the month.
Pluto
is in Ophiuchus, which is above the horizon by the time it gets dark in
June.
Moon phases:
Third Quarter: June
2
New
Moon: June
10
First
Quarter:
June 17
Full: June
24
All lunar dates are in Hawai‘i
Standard Time.
Space Station and Hubble Telescope viewing:
The
Bishop Museum planetarium home page has links to several excellent sites for
viewing these large satellites:
http://bishopmuseum.org/planetarium/
This
homepage also contains sunrise and sunset times for various locations in
Hawai‘i, star maps, and astronomical highlights for the remainder of
2002.
Planetarium Information
Daily Planetarium schedule:
“Explorers of Mauna Kea” (45 minutes) 11:30
AM
“The Explorers” (in Japanese)
(45 minutes) 12:30
PM
“The Explorers” (45 minutes) 1:30
PM
“The Stars Tonight” (30
minutes) 3:30
PM
Please
note that we’ll offer “The Eclipse Show” in place of
“Explorers of Mauna Kea” on June 8, 9 and 10.
Our
“Explorers” series of planetarium shows are developed as part of an
education partnership with NASA.
Due
to the darkness of the theater, there is no late seating for any planetarium
show.
“The
Sky Tonight,” an hour-long sky talk with Sam Rhoads, occurs on Monday, June
3 at 7:00 PM.
Reservations
are necessary, since Sam’s shows always fill. $4 for adults, $3 for kids, free to Bishop Museum members
and Hawaiian Astronomical Society members.
Reservations for “The Sky
Tonight”: 848-4168.
There is no late seating.
Hawaiian Astronomical Society:
The
Astronomical Society’s next meeting in Tuesday June 4. It happens at 7:30 PM in the Atherton
Halau at the Bishop Museum.
The HAS homepage:
Bishop Museum sky information
lines
(808) 848-4136 for pre-recorded
sky information and planetarium schedule
(808) 848-4162 for planetarium
office
Planetarium homepage:
http://bishopmuseum.org/planetarium/
Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, the State Museum of Cultural
and Natural History was founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop as a memorial
to his wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last descendant of the royal
Kamehameha dynasty. It is open
daily (except Christmas) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $14.95 for adults and $11.95
for children (four to 12 years). Children
under four are free. Kama‘aina
rates are available. The Museum is located at 1525 Bernice Street. For information, call (808) 847-3511.