Tag Archives: After Dark

Super blood wolf moon

blood moon over hawi

blood moonThe recent lunar eclipse occurred last Sunday evening here in Hawaii. When the moon rose at 6:02 p.m. (five minutes before sunset) the eclipse was already well underway. Where I was watching, the sky was hazy so the moon wasn’t very clear. It then disappeared into a bank of clouds and I considered heading for home. But the cloud bank wasn’t huge and was drifting away from the area I was watching.

Sure enough, a little before 7 p.m., the now fully-eclipsed moon slid above the clouds into a beautiful starlit night. I took some photos where I’d set up, down by the coast, and then headed into Hawi to see what it looked like there.

Above is a view from downtown Hawi (not exactly hopping at 7:20 on Sunday night). The second photo is the moon soon after it rose above the clouds before the sky was fully dark. Below is the night sky with the moon in the bottom left and Orion at the top right.

Why the grand name for this eclipse? The moon was closer to the Earth than normal so it seemed bigger and brighter than usual, which is known as a supermoon. Because this was a total eclipse it gave the moon a red tint, which is known as a blood moon. And January’s full moon is sometimes called a wolf moon. Voila – a super blood wolf moon.

Posted in response to this week’s Sunday Stills challenge on the theme of ‘Night,’ (See more responses here.) and this week’s Friendly Friday challenge on the theme of ‘Coral-ish colors.’ (See more responses here.)

blood moon and orion

Lunar eclipse

A lunar eclipse over Hawaii

A photo of yesterday’s lunar eclipse, at least it was yesterday here. This was taken at 3 a.m.. I almost missed it. When my alarm went off I looked out of the window and thought, ‘There’s not much moonlight; it must be cloudy.’ Then I thought, ‘Wait a minute….’

Full moon

Here’s another instance of me making posts based on the theme of this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, which is ‘Silence.’

First up is this shot of a full moon. For me, the night sky always seems silent. What goes on up there is rarely accompanied by any sound that we hear (the recent Michigan meteor notwithstanding). And this was a calm evening with clouds just drifting by, so not even the sound of the wind to disturb things.

Gecko on a window

A gecko on a window showing its foot pads.

I’m constantly running in and out of the house because I’ve been distracted by something going on in the world of nature. I noticed this gecko on the outside of a window one night and rushed to get my camera. I particularly like the details of the underside of its feet, those miraculous pads that enable it to scoot around on any surface – up, down, or upside down.

I think this is a house gecko, but it could be a mourning gecko.

The night sky

The night sky over the Big Island.

The night sky above the Big Island is often clear and awash with stars. The biggest problem with it is that it occurs when I’m snoring softly (sometimes). I have good intentions to get up and spend time soaking in the stars, but then I roll over and the moment is gone.

I’ve done better during meteor showers. A half hour’s viewing during a good shower invariably yields rewards. But even there I’m torn. This wasn’t a great year for meteors – conflicts with the moon and the weather gods – and I saw almost as many looking through the window, from the comfort of my bed.

However, the impulse remains to do better and thinking about new horizons and what the coming year might hold, a greater regard for the night sky is high on my list.

Flowing to the ocean

Lava from Kilauea's Pu'u O'o flow.
At twilight, lava flows down Pūlama pali while, at the top of the hill, a smaller breakout can be seen. In the center are two onlookers, illuminated by the glow of flashlights.
Lava from Kilauea's Pu'u O'o flow sets fire to shrubs and trees.
In the early evening, the flow descends the pali, starting fires in surviving stands of trees and shrubs.
The glow of lava from Kilauea's Pu'u O'o flow reflects off the clouds.
As the light fades, the glow from the flow reflects off passing clouds. The white lights are the flashlights of people hiking to or from the flow.
Kilauea's Pu'u O'o flow glows brightly as darkness falls.
The lava flow burns brightly as darkness falls.

In April, I posted here about a trip last year to see lava bubbling up at Kilauea Volcano. That activity was in the Overlook vent of Halema’uma’u Crater. On May 24, Kilauea’s other active vent, Pu’u O’o, began a new breakout of lava toward the southeast. This is a path that flows have taken many times before. The first active lava I saw was back in 2010 when such a flow reached the sea and put on a spectacular show.

This May 24 flow is also headed to the sea. By June 28 it had reached Pūlama pali, a steep slope leading down to the coastal plain. On July 7 it was less than three-quarters of a mile from the ocean, and creeping slowly over previous flows that have taken this path. That’s when I went down to take a look and took these photos.

At its current rate of progress, the flow will reach the ocean in a week. But it could speed up or stop, so it’s really a case of wait and see.

There is one note of irony. I have a map from 1975 showing the road that ran along this coast before being covered by various flows from the volcano. In 2014, a flow from the Pu’u O’o vent headed east, threatening the town of Pahoa and the main highway into that corner of the island. One response to that situation was to bulldoze an emergency highway along the coast, at a cost of $10 million or so, following the route of the old road. It was never used as that flow stopped short of Pahoa. If the current flow travels another a half mile or so, the emergency highway will be covered again without ever being used. Such is life.

For more information about Kilauea Volcano and it current eruption, go to hvo.wr.usgs.gov/activity/kilaueastatus.php.