Southern Stars

Posted Mon, November 30, 2009 - 10:30 PM
astronomy, hawaii

On Wednesday night, the sky above Moloka‘i cleared out, and I took some pictures from the lānai.

Sagittarius setting in the southwest, with the Great Star Cloud, the Lagoon Nebula (M8). Corona Australis is on the left.

The center of the galaxy.

Constellations on the southern horizon that can't be seen from Minnesota; Achernar (α Eridani) on the left, and a bunch of birds: Phoenix, Grus, and Pavo.

Southern stars.

This was the view from my bed that evening. Two famous clusters: the Pleiades (Makali‘i) and the Hyades, with Aldebaran (Hōkū‘ula) shining through behind the latter cluster.

A view of the eastern sky.