:Lahaina Noon

File:Lahaina_noon_subsolar_point.svg

The subsolar point travels through the tropics. Hawaii is the only US state in the tropics and thus the only one to experience Lāhainā Noon. In 2022 and 2023, the phenomenon occurred in Honolulu on May 26 and July 16.{{cite web |url=https://www.bishopmuseum.org/lahaina-noon/ |title=Lāhainā Noon |website=Bishop Museum |access-date=August 3, 2022 }} Hawaii and other locations between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn receive the sun's direct rays as the apparent path of the sun passes overhead before and after the summer solstice.

Lāhainā Noon can occur anywhere from 12:16 to 12:43pm Hawaii–Aleutian Standard Time. At that moment objects that stand straight up (flagpoles, bollards, telephone poles, etc.) cast no outward shadow. The most southerly points in Hawaii experience Lāhainā Noon on earlier and later dates than the northern parts. For example, in 2001 Hilo on the Island of Hawaii encountered the overhead sun around May 18 and July 24, Kahului, Maui, on May 24 and July 18, Honolulu, Oahu, on May 26 and July 15 and Lihue, Kauai, on May 31 and July 11. Between each pair of dates, the sun is slightly to the north at solar noon.{{cite news |title= 'Lahaina Noon' coming here soon |date= May 23, 2001 |newspaper= Honolulu Star-Bulletin |url= http://archives.starbulletin.com/2001/05/23/news/story12.html |access-date= November 12, 2010 }}

Chosen in a contest sponsored by the Bishop Museum in the 1990s, Lāhainā Noon was the selected appellation because lā hainā (the old name for Lāhainā, Hawaii) means "cruel sun" in the Hawaiian language.{{Hawaiian Dictionaries |Lā-hainā |D48691 |q=Lahaina |dic=pp |access-date= November 12, 2010 }} The ancient Hawaiian name for the event was kau ka lā i ka lolo which translates as "the sun rests on the brains."{{cite news |title= Noon sun not directly overhead everywhere |author= Nancy Alima Ali |date=May 11, 2010 |newspaper= Honolulu Star-Bulletin |url= http://archives.starbulletin.com/content/20100511_Noon_sun_not_directly_overhead_everywhere/ |access-date= November 12, 2010 }}{{Hawaiian Dictionaries |Lolo |exact=yes |access-date= May 26, 2011 }}{{Clear|left}}

{{subsolar_point_date_graph.svg}}

The event is often covered by Hawaiian media.{{cite news |url=http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/05/27/news/briefs.html |title=Newswatch: Shadows disappear today at Lahaina noon |newspaper=Honoluu Star-Bulletin |date=May 27, 2006 |access-date=August 22, 2017 }}{{cite news |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Apr/29/ln/FP704290342.html |title=Earth at prime tilt to view Mercury at apex |date=April 29, 2007 |access-date=August 22, 2017 |first=Carolyn |last=Kaichi |newspaper=Honolulu Advertiser }}{{cite news |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2008/Jul/11/ln/hawaii807110348.html |title= Lahaina Noon flits over Honolulu on Tuesday |date=July 11, 2008 |access-date=August 22, 2017 |first=Kelli |last=Miura |newspaper=Honolulu Advertiser }} Activities are associated with the event.{{cite news |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2008/Jul/15/br/hawaii307150006.html |title=Liliha Library to host 'Lāhainā Noon,' 'StarLab' astro events |date=July 15, 2008 |access-date=August 22, 2017 |newspaper=Honolulu Advertiser }}

Sky Gate, a unique sculpture in Honolulu created by artist and landscape architect Isamu Noguchi, features a bendy, bumpy ring that has large changes in height around its circumference. Most of the year, it makes a curvy, twisted shadow on the ground, but during Lāhainā Noon, the height-changing ring casts a perfect circular shadow on the ground.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honolulu-Magazine/July-2008/Skygate/ |title=Skygate |date=June 30, 2008 |magazine=Honolulu magazine |first=Michael |last=Keany |access-date=September 9, 2020 }} There are often activities held by the City & County of Honolulu around the time of the event on the Frank Fasi Civic Grounds, where the sculpture is located.

The phenomenon occurs in stories, including "Lāhainā Noon" by Eric Paul Shaffer (Leaping Dog, 2005),{{cite news |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Jun/26/il/il07a.html |title='Lāhainā Noon' about a warm, clear feeling |date=June 26, 2005 |access-date=August 22, 2017 |first=Wanda A. |last=Adams |newspaper=Honolulu Advertiser }} which won the Ka Palapala Po'okela book award for Excellence in "Aloha from beyond Hawaii".{{cite news |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Oct/29/il/FP610290335.html |title=Ka Palapala Po'okela winners named |date=October 29, 2006 |access-date=August 22, 2017 |newspaper=Honolulu Advertiser }}{{cite news |url=http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20110526__SHADOW_LESSONS.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804004009/http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20110526__SHADOW_LESSONS.html |archive-date=August 4, 2011 |title=Shadow lessons: Educators will show kids and adults the marvels of a Lahaina Noon event |first=Dan |last=Nakaso |date=May 26, 2011 |newspaper=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |url-status=dead }}

File:Shadows during Lahaina Noon (5767078745).jpg|Lāhainā Noon in Downtown Honolulu

File:Sky Gate by Isamu Noguchi.jpg|Sky Gate by Isamu Noguchi

• {{anli|Qibla observation by shadows}}
• {{anli|Sundial}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Pruitt |first=B. |date=2002 |title=Explore Kauai |publisher=Mutual Publishing |isbn=1-56647-560-0 |page=17 }}
• {{Cite news |first=Jack |last=Williams |url=https://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/basics/sun-overhead.htm |title=Sun beams directly down on Hawaii in May, July |newspaper=USA Today |date=May 17, 2005 }}

• [http://www.bishopmuseum.org/planetarium/ Annual Astronomy Highlights link has current "Lahaina Noon" dates] updated by the Bernice P. Bishop Museum
• [http://archives.starbulletin.com/2007/07/17/news/wild.html Picture of "Lahaina Noon"] by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, note the street sign
• [http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/05/28/news/wild.html Picture of "Lahaina Noon"] by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Category:Hawaii culture

Category:Sun

Category:Solar phenomena