![]() In ancient times, many cultures (such as Greek, Roman and Babylonian cultures) considered a conjunction of planets to be very significant events as the motion of the planets was thought to predict the future. A conjunction refers to when two planets appear to be very close to each other from our perspective on the Earth. On the evening of Friday, June 30, the two planets will be extremely close to each other in a planetary conjunction. Throughout the month of June, the two planets will slowly move closer and closer to each other in the sky. Throughout the past few months, we have been observing the planets Hōkūloa (Venus) and Hōkūʻula (Mars) accompanying each other in the western evening sky. Did you know that Earth is not the only planet with an axial tilt? The planet Mars has an axial tilt of 25°, you could argue that Mars could experience seasons very similarly to how the Earth experiences seasons if its atmosphere was thicker. During the month of June, the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun so the north experiences more direct sunlight and thus warmer weather while the southern hemisphere experiences less direct sunlight and thus colder weather. The Earth’s tilt towards the Sun means that different hemispheres of the Earth receive more direct sunlight during different times of the year. We experience this change in daylight hours and the seasons due to the 23.5° tilt of the Earth to the plane of the solar system. Up until the solstice, the days were growing longer, and, after the solstice, the days will begin to grow shorter. The solstice is often described as the “first day of summer ” however, it might be better described as the perfect midpoint of summer. The day length for Honolulu on the solstice will be 13 hours and 25 minutes. ![]() On this day, the northern hemisphere experiences its longest period of daylight. June 21 marks the northern hemisphere’s summer solstice, the day when the Earth’s north pole is at its maximum tilt towards the Sun. Learn more about her research of this unique region and its impact on the astronomical community through the full press release here: Within the data, astronomers see the story of two dense regions hidden inside the nebula: a ridge of warm gas and dust that makes up the “head and mane” of the horse and a cold clump of dense material hiding behind the ridge which will likely form a new solar system similar to our own. These new observations provide insight into why the Horsehead Nebula is shaped the way that it is. While the famous nebula intrigues astronomers researching star formation, Go was the first to propose observing the nebula in this way. For her research, done through Maunakea Scholars in 2018, she used images of the nebula taken in polarized light by the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. ![]() Mallory Go, who graduated in 2021, studied the magnetic fields of the Horsehead Nebula and recently co-authored a scientific paper based on her work. A former Molokai High School student is providing new insight into the shape of a famous nebula by using data they received through Maunakea Scholars – a unique program giving high school students in Hawaiʻi access to telescopes on the mountain. ![]()
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