This land journal can only happen during certain months of each year, from about mid-November to mid-February. That’s right, it’s time-sensitive!
In order to write this journal, you need to educate yourself, just a little, about constellations and stars — what’s up there on clear nights. In order to do that, you will need to become familiar with a couple of web resources. One of them is easy to use and the other is a little more challenging. No worry- we’ll look at it together in class.
First, the easy one: Google Earth.
- Download Google Earth (the free version) and locate your house.
- At the top, click on the planet icon to switch to sky view.
- In Skyview, make sure that two key layers are activated: Current Sky Events and Backyard Astronomy.
- In the search tab at the top left, type in M45 and go there. You should be taken to the tip of an arm in the constellation Taurus.
Congratulations! You have just arrived at the Pleiades, known in Hawaiian culture as Makali’i. As you probably already know, the first appearance of Makali’i each year (mid-November) signaled the beginning of the Makahiki season, or ho’oilo, the season of rain, growth and peace, the season dedicated to Lono.
Now the hard web resource. If we haven’t looked at it together yet, see if you can learn to operate this website: http://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/ Here’s a hint: Hawai’i is -10, ten hours behind UMT (Universal Mean Time), which used to be called GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). The fourmilab site is useful because Google Earth only shows the current sky over your home. If you should want to see where Makali’i will be in, say, six hours, you will need to learn to use fourmilab.
Finally, your land journal assignment.
- Run Google Earth in on a clear evening, around 8 p.m.,
- locate your house,
- switch to skyview and see if the constellation Taurus is visible on the screen, without any scrolling. If Taurus is not visible, you may need to wait an hour until Makali’i has risen from below the horizon.
- Once you have located Makali’i on screen, look at the compass orientation on the top right of Google Earth and notice where Makali’i rises (north, south, northeast, etc.) You will need to know where these points of the compass are located relative to your home.
Go outside and locate the non-virtual, non-Google Makali’i in the night sky. Then notice the horizon below Makali’i. Describe it in as much detail as you can, including such things as wind direction and strength, smells, noises, etc. In other words, get down and detailed with this piece of writing. What if the horizon is blocked by mountains, trees or buildings so that Makali’i takes even more time to become visible? No worry – just describe what’s there, including whatever blocks a view of the horizon. Remember, at least 300 words, double-spaced, saved as an RTF file.