Hilo Welcomes First 2017 Lahaina Noon Thursday, May 18

Summary: Hilo welcomes its first 2017 Lahaina Noon Thursday, May 18, at 12:16 p.m. as the sun makes the first of two annual passes directly overhead.

detail of Clayton Bryant Young's glass-tiled mosaic on ‘Imiloa Center’s atrium floor; the 14-foot circular mosaic is illuminated by the overhead skylight during Hilo’s twice annual experiences of Lahaina Noon: brewbooks, CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr

Hilo welcomes its first 2017 Lahaina Noon Thursday, May 18, at 12:16 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time with the sun’s first of two annual, directly overhead passes above the Big Island of Hawaii.

The sun’s twice yearly placement directly overhead occurs in May and again in July. The Island of Hawaii is the first of the eight main Hawaiian Islands to experience May’s overhead placement.

The United States’ 50th state is the only state where the tropical phenomena of a directly overhead sun occurs. The sun reaches its zenith, or highest point in the sky, at solar noon only over the tropical band demarcated by the Southern Hemisphere’s Tropic of Capricorn and the Northern Hemisphere’s Tropic of Cancer.

The Tropic of Cancer circles the Earth as 23.4371 degrees north latitude. Hilo’s geographic coordinates are 19 degrees 42 minutes 20 seconds north latitude and 155 degrees 5 minutes 9 seconds west longitude.

Lahaina Noon announces itself with shadowless drama. Vertical objects cast no shadows because the sun’s rays are directed perpendicularly to the Earth’s surface.

The place on the surface receiving perpendicular rays is known as the subsolar point. Sunlight always forms an angle of 90 degrees with the subsolar point.

May’s Lahaina Noon reflects the sun’s apparent journey across Earth’s sky toward its northernmost zenith at the Tropic of Cancer. The June solstice marks the instant of the subsolar point’s placement on the Tropic of Cancer.

The term Lahaina Noon comes from a naming contest sponsored in 1990 by the Hawai’I State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, known as the Bernice Pauahi Museum, in Honolulu. Lahaina derives from the Hawaiian descriptor lā hainā, which means “cruel sun.”

The authentic Hawaiian phrase for the solar phenomenon is kau ka lā i ka lolo (“the sun rests on the brains”), according to Nancy Alima Ali during her tenure as manager of the Hokulani Imaginarium at Windward Community College in Kaneohe (Hawaiian: Kāneʻohe), southeastern Oahu. Native Hawaiians equate the disappearance of a person’s shadow with extreme personal power, expressed as a spiritual energy called mana. During Lahaina Noon, a person’s mana collects inside and effects an alignment with universal forces.

Located in Hilo, ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai’i captures the astronomical event through illumination of the atrium floor’s mosaic by the center’s sunlit skylight. The atrium’s circular atrium measures 14 feet in diameter and comprises 140,000 individual glass tiles.

The glass-tile mosaic is an adaptation of “Voyage of the Navigator,” a center-commissioned oil painting by the island’s Puna district artist, Clayton Bryant Young. The original painting, which measures about 40 inches square, hangs in the ‘Imiloa Center’s conference room.

Tropical latitude in the Hawaiian archipelago determines the exact date and time of Lahaina Noon. As the most northerly of the eight main Hawaiian Islands, the Big Island of Hawaii claims first instances of Lahaina Noon during the sun’s northward passage in May.

The takeaway for Hilo’s welcome of the first 2017 Lahaina Noon Thursday, May 18, is the Hawaiian archipelago’s uniqueness as the only U.S. state with subsolar points.

May 2017 Lahaina Noon dates
Thursday, May 18, at 12:16 p.m. at Hilo, Hawaii (the Big Island)
Thursday, May 18, at 12:20 p.m. at Kailua-Kona, Hawaii (the Big Island)
Tuesday, May 23, at 12:20 p.m. at Hana, Maui
Tuesday, May 23, at 12:24 p.m. at Lanai City, Lanai
Wednesday, May 24, at 12:22 p.m. at Kahului, Maui
Wednesday, May 24, at 12:23 p.m. at Lahaina, Maui
Thursday, May 25, at 12:25 p.m. at Kaunakakai, Molokai
Friday, May 26, at 12:28 p.m. at Honolulu, Oahu
Wednesday, May 31, at 12:35 p.m. at Lihue, Kauai

Texas-born, Hawaii-transplanted artist Clayton Bryant Young's Voyage of Discovery mosaic is fully illuminated by the twice-yearly solar phenomenon of Lahaina Noon in 'Imiloa Astronomy Center' atrium, Hilo, the Big Island, Hawaii: Imiloa Astronomy Center @imiloaastronomycenter via Facebook May 17, 2011

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

detail of Clayton Bryant Young's glass-tiled mosaic on ‘Imiloa Center’s atrium floor; the 14-foot circular mosaic is illuminated by the overhead skylight during Hilo’s twice annual experiences of Lahaina Noon: brewbooks, CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/brewbooks/2438238664/

Texas-born, Hawaii-transplanted artist Clayton Bryant Young's Voyage of Discovery mosaic is fully illuminated by the twice-yearly solar phenomenon of Lahaina Noon in 'Imiloa Astronomy Center' atrium, Hilo, the Big Island, Hawaii: Imiloa Astronomy Center @imiloaastronomycenter via Facebook May 17, 2011, @ https://www.facebook.com/imiloaastronomycenter/photos/a.107428654186.116707.46156119186/10150257280579187/

For further information:

Ali, Nancy Alima. “Noon Sun Not Directly Overhead Everywhere.” Star Bulletin > Archives. May 11, 2010.
Available @ http://archives.starbulletin.com/content/20100511_Noon_sun_not_directly_overhead_everywhere/

Bryan, E.H. (Edwin Horace), Jr.; Richard Crowe; and Timothy F. Slater. Stars Over Hawaii. Third revised edition. Hilo HI: Petroglyph Press, 2015.

Burnett, John. “Artistic Voyage: ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii’s Floor Mosaic Is Puna Man’s Vision.” Hawaii Tribune Herald. March 3, 2006.
Available @ http://www.claytonyoungstudio.com/uploads/1/2/5/2/12522754/clayton_young_artistic_voyage.pdf

‘Imiloa Astronomy Center. “2017 Sky Calendar.” ‘Imiloa > Explore > Sky Information > Yearly Observational Astronomy Highlights.
Available @ http://www.imiloahawaii.org/56/yearly-observational-astronomy-highlights-

Imiloa Astronomy Center @imiloaastronomycenter. "Voyage of the Navigator last year's Lahaina Noon 2010." Facebook. May 17, 2011.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/imiloaastronomycenter/photos/a.107428654186.116707.46156119186/10150257280579187/

Jenn K. “Lahaina Noon.” Living Hilo Style. May 18, 2016.
Available @ https://livinghilostyle.com/2016/05/18/lahaina-noon/

"Lahaina Noon 2017 + Tips to Avoid Sunburn on Hawaii Vacations." Beat of Hawaii. April 6, 2017.
Available @ http://beatofhawaii.com/lahaina-noon-10-tips-to-avoid-sunburn-on-hawaii-vacation/

Living Hilo Style @livinghilostyle. “Lahaina Noon.” Twitter. May 18, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/livinghilostyle/status/733116036090724352

Marriner, Derdriu. “2016’s First Lahaina Noon Is May 15; Next 2016 Lahaina Noon Is July 11.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 11, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/05/2016s-first-lahaina-noon-is-may-15-next.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Second 2016 Lahaina Noon Experience Begins Monday, July 11.” Wednesday, July 6, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/07/second-2016-lahaina-noon-experience.html

OnlyInHawaii.org @Only_In_Hawaii. “Sky Gate and Lahaina Noon -- Astrological Attraction in Honolulu, Hawaii.” Twitter. Jan. 30, 2017.
Available @ https://twitter.com/Only_In_Hawaii/status/826017152431972353

Pukui, Mary Kawena; Samuel Hoyt Elbert. “Lolo.” Hawaiian Dictionary. Honolulu HI: University of Hawai’I Press, 2003.
Available @ http://wehewehe.org/gsdl2.85/cgi-bin/hdict?a=q&j=pk&l=en&q=Lolo&af=0

“Sky Gate and Lahaina Noon -- Astrological Attraction in Honolulu, Hawaii.” Only In Hawaii > Attractions > Architectural Landmarks.
Available @ http://onlyinhawaii.org/sky-gate-lahaina-noon-honolulu-hawaii/?platform=hootsuite

SubaruTelescopeNAOJe. “Lahaina Noon at Subaru Telescope’s Base Facility.” YouTube. Oct. 30, 2012.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCjEyITpRAI

Vrecinto. “Hilo Lahaina Noon 2015.” ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii > Blog. May 12, 2015.
Available @ http://blog.imiloahawaii.org/general-information/hilo-lahaina-noon-2015/