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Mauna Kea Sky Shadow

Saturday, March 1st, 2008 Posted in Space | No Comments »

Today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day features a view of Mauna Kea’s shadow on the sky, just at the tail end of last week’s lunar eclipse:

Mauna Kea Shadow

I couldn’t help but be reminded of our visit to the summit in April 2005, just at sunset, when I took this similar (but decidedly less cool) photo:

Shadow of the Mountain

Atmospheric Optics explains why most mountains’ shadows look triangular when viewed from their summits.

Mauna Kea

Monday, May 2nd, 2005 Posted in Hawaii 2005, Space, Travel | 5 Comments »

And now for something completely different: Hawaiian snow. On our second-to-last day in Hawaii, we took a tour up to the summit of Mauna Kea, the highest mountain in the state at 13,796 feet. And even in early April, they still had snow at the summit.

Hawaiian Snow

We caught a somewhat hazy view of it from the west, in the Kohala area, but our best view of the mountain actually came the day after the tour, on our drive out to Akaka Falls. We’re probably due east of the mountain here:

Mauna Kea seen from the road to Akaka Falls

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