Ka`u Calendar Monday, Nov. 14, 2016

Supermoon sets, as seen from Ka Lae in Kaʻū yesterday morning. Photo by Richard Taylor

A SUPER FULL MOON SHONE OVER KAʻŪ YESTERDAY, the closest the moon has passed planet Earth in more than 68 years - since Jan. 26, 1948.
     Scientists call the supermoon a perigree moon which occurs when the moon becomes full at the same time it passes nearest Earth during its monthly elliptical orbit, making it look exceptionally large. That path is some 31,000 miles closer to Earth than when the moon passes on the other side of Earth, a path called the apogee.

Supermoon over Kaʻū Photo by Peter Anderson

Supermoon over Punaluʻu. Photo by Peter Anderson

     A supermoon passes less than 223,694 miles from Earth and appears particularly big when seen near the horizon. The next super full moon will be Sunday, Dec. 3, 2017 and again, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018. The next supermoon to be closer to Earth than the recent event will be on Nov. 25, 2034. To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see Facebook. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

    The ticket required to watch the action is the offering of canned food, at least one can per person, to be distributed to needy families.
     Coach Cy Lopez said he and the team are excited to inaugurate the gym with girls basketball and for the tournament to be for such a good cause. It will also show off the new $18 million, 43,300- square-foot Kaʻū District Gym & Shelter, which opened in October. The gym is expected to also host volleyball tournaments and a camp this summer, organized by Kamehameha School Volleyball Coach Guy Enriques.
     Lopez said that Trojan girls are “looking forward to a great season because most of these players have been on our Hokulele Club basketball team. They’ve been working hard off season throughout the year. They are also very excited to be the first high school team to play in our brand new gym.”
     The new certified kitchen at the gym will be employed for this weekend’s tournament and the food on sale will include kalua pork bowl, laulau bowl, chili, hot dog, nacho salad, Pahala pops and laulau kalua combo.

Kaʻū High Trojans Girls Basketball Team invites the public to be the first to see a high school sports competition in the new Kaʻū District Gym this Friday and Saturday. The team asks the public to donate to their food drive in exchange for free entrance to the Annual Food Drive Basketball Tournament, beginning at 5:15 p.m. Friday, and 9 a.m. Saturday. Photo by Jen Makuakane

      The coaching staff for the Trojans is comprised of Lopez, Jen Makuakane and Bridgette Pasion. Trojan team members are listed by grade. Seniors are: Alysha Gustafson-Savella, Zaylee Pascubillo, Charisma Felipe and Tristan Davis. Juniors are: Analei Emmsley, Junially Manantan and Dacy Andrade-Davis. Sophomores are Reisha Kekoa-Jara, Mei Lin Galban-Kinin, Kianie Medeiros-Dancel, and Malia Corpuz. The Freshman is Marilou Manantan.
     Teams competing in the weekend tournament are Kaʻū Varsity and JV, Keaʻau Varsity and JV, and Pahoa and Kealakehe JV teams.

A new species of butterfly fish can be seen in Hilo at Mokupāpapa  Discovery Center. The photo was taken at a depth of 180 feet off  Pearl and Hermes Atoll, in the northwest Hawaiian Islands. Photo by Craig McFall/NOAA

A NEWLY IDENTIFIED FISH SPECIES found in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands was unveiled for the public on this island last week after being discovered in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
    The presentation was made at Mokupāpapa Discovery Center in Hilo by Randall Kosaki, Ph.D., NOAA’s deputy superintendent for field and research at Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument; Tim Brown, aquarist, Mokupāpapa Discovery Center and Virginia Branco, educator and interim manager, Mokupāpapa Discovery Center.
     The new species on display is a butterflyfish called Prognothodes basabei, which can be seen in the Mokupāpapa aquariums.
     The scientists explained that the butterflyfish was found living in some of the most unexplored ocean environments, a mesophotic coral ecosystem called “the coral-reef twilight zone.” These are deep coral reefs living at depths of 150 to 600 feet.
    “Discoveries such as this underscore how poorly explored and how little we know about our deep coral reefs,” said Kosaki. “Virtually every deep dive we do takes place on a reef that no human being has ever seen.”

A 200-foot dive to study ocean life came up with a new deep water butterflyfish species. Photo by Greg McFall/NOAA

     This butterfly fish was first seen from a deepwater manned submersible more than 20 years ago at a depth as great as 600 feet. It was only in recent years that divers with advanced electronic closed-cirecuit rebreathers were able to dive to 330 feet and collect and preserve specimens of the fish to identify it as a new species.
      The new butterflyfish was named after Pete Basabe, a veteran Kona deep diver who has provided support for deep dives for many years for scientific studies on reef fishes.
   “This new discovery illustrates the conservation value of very large marine protected areas,” said Kosaki. “Not only do they protect the biodiversity that we already know about, they also protect the diversity we’ve yet to discover. And there’s a lot left to discover.”
    Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is the largest marine preserve in the world. 
    Mokupāpapa Discovery Center is at 76 Kamehameha Ave. in the historic Koehnen Building in Hilo and is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.