BYUH students make special memories by stargazing while contemplating their lives in Hawaii
Kathryn Palmer, a junior majoring in business supply chain from Arizona, said, “Stargazing for me is a way to connect with my dad and also to connect spiritually with Heavenly Father.”
Thinking about life while stargazing
When people stargaze into endless firmament, they said they have an opportunity to think about something they usually do not think about during their hectic lives.
Palmer said, “When I'm looking at the stars, I've even had really spiritual experiences. I feel Heavenly Father is telling me how much he loves me then. Every time I look at the stars, I have very deep questions, such as what else is out there is or why I am here on this earth. I also start thinking about the plan of salvation then.”
Haruya Murai, a senior majoring in graphic design from Japan, said stargazing always makes him want to go to space.
He said the star sizes are really small for people's eyes to see, but actually they're much bigger than they think they are. Space is so vast and human beings are so small, he temporarily feels like there is nothing he should worry about in his life, he said.
Another student explained he can be more creative when he is stargazing.
Dennis Chan, a senior majoring in business management from Hong Kong, said, “When we went to stargaze, we discussed aliens or other worlds in space. If you stargaze with your friends, you can discuss more creative questions and share your thoughts with them.”
Finding constellations
Palmer said she can recognize a lot of constellations. She goes stargazing by herself a lot because she said she likes learning fun facts about constellations or being able to pick them out and tests whether or not she still remembers all the constellations.
“I recently found central Centaurus [which is one of the largest constellations].
Stargazing strengths relationships with family and friends
Palmer said whenever she finds a new constellation or she sees something interesting in the sky, she calls her dad back at home and talks about it for a long time.
“It's one of my favorite things to do when I want to just talk to my dad.”
Murai said stargazing is not only for himself to be relaxing but also to spend good time with his friends at BYUH and it makes their friendships deeper.
Differences in the sky in Hawaii from students hometowns
Students said they have found many differences in the night sky between Hawaii and their hometowns.
Murai explained he used to be able to see many stars in Okinawa, the small island where he is from, but in Hawaii, he noticed the angle he can see stars is different.
Additionally, Palmer said the southern stars are the ones people can't see in Arizona in the summertime, so she likes to go out and learn about the new ones in Hawaii. She said it's obvious to find differences about stars in different places when it's the same constellation.
“I have an app called Night Sky on my phone. I'll pull up the app on my phone, and I'll realize that I don't even know that one at all. That's a brand new one,” Palmer said.
Chan added since Laie is in the countryside and there's not many traffic lights and lights in general, it's pretty dark and people can see stars more clearly.
Special memories about stargazing
Stargazing offers students their own unique stories in different places, they said.
Palmer talked about her memories with her father. “When I was a kid, he used to take us to places that were outside of the city just specifically to go see the stars. My dad loved to take me out to this one meadow nearby wherever we stayed. We used to stay up until around 3 a.m. to stargaze. I've seen the Milky Way a couple of times then.”
Chan stargazed in the mountain called Pu'u Kalepeamoa when he went to the Big Island. He said even though he didn't go up on the top, he was in still higher than the clouds, so it was so clear to see every star there.
Shooting stars
Murai explained if people are lucky and stay outside longer, they can sometimes see shooting stars.
He tries to focus on looking up at just one point. People can't guess when shooting stars will race across the night sky, but meteor showers can be forecasted. His dream is to see a meteor shower in Hawaii.
Stargazers’ future plans
Palmer said Placitas in New Mexico is a stargazing town. People are not allowed to have any light outside at all there. Therefore, they use blackout curtains at home. The town has a lot of really strict rules about light. She said she would like to stargaze there someday.
She said she wants to try stargazing at Waimea Beach up on the North Shore too because she knows there's no lights around there.