Dispatches from Volcano: Tuesday, January 19, 2021. a constellation of SnapShots

Rain, drizzle, rain, grey sodden...today at Keaʻau ma uka. Itʻs a bit humid, fairly windless. Given the weathers the rest of the Pae ʻĀina has seen the past few days, I shall not complain.

I donʻt like change. Eventually I get over whatever issues I have, but change in general? Not a fan. So the "old" HVO website still works, but today I was pointed to the New Webcam page of the new HVO site. Sometimes I can be too hardhead. The new site is excellent. Iʻll still do screenshots and post them, because sometimes we see remarkable things that are evanescent. But check this out:

Kaluapele Webcams

All you gotta do is scroll down, and see whatever is current for whatever cam.

Though for an example of why I like screenshots...First a recent thermal image. I rotated it, and the perspective is kinda funnykine, but mokunui paʻa ...firmly fixed big island...(not lana au-ing for now) and the erupting West Vent (on the left) are oriented as they are in the following photo.

Above, dark purple is coolest, and we can see that the east side of the Lua is way cooler than the west, near the vent.

Below, the contrast is more subtle, but you can still discern the edge...and see mokuliʻi stuck...And this image, Tuesday 1/19 at 337p, has apparently one vent at play.

A couple nights ago, had, apparently, two vents erupting...

And yesterday afternoon, both were active, but with different volumes.

Kind of an obsession. But I suppose there are worse things one could do to occupy ones time...

Then there are Constellations. I have a very basic knowledge of night sky, and can pick out several constellations. Decades of backcountry trips to Halapē, Maniniʻōwali, and other places of wonder...night time, lie back and marvel. Lucky us... The evening of my Thirtieth Lā Hānau, I was on the rim of Mokuʻāweoweo with js and vg, eating chocolate cake and admiring Hānaiakamālama, the Southern Cross. It decorated the sky at sunset in early June. On January 2, 2021, friend Janice Wei got this from the Kīlauea Overlook at sunrise.

First, the Cross is immediately to left of ao māhu hovering in calm morning air...

And a tiny bit later, with brighter sky, again the Cross to the left of fume. And just below center of the frame, diagonally placed, are Alpha Centauri and Hadar (a.k.a. Beta Centauri). They point to the top star of the Cross.

space.com

For reasons unknown to me, ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi has several names for the Southern Cross:

Southern Cross

Hōkū-keʻa, Ka-peʻa, Newa, Newe, Kaulu, Hānai-a-ka-malama.

Try looking them up and see if insights result...

Then thereʻs Orion, and the Bull, Taurus, and Pleiades. They all live in the same part of the sky. Friends from Waimea visited Sunday night and were treated to the following. Mahalo piha, cw!

Below, Taurus, the Bull, is the "V", right of top center, pointing down toward the brightest fume, while Makaliʻi (Pleiades, the Seven Sisters) is caught in the uppermost dead branches at the right.