Virtual NightSchool at Cal Academy of Sciences: A Guide to Celestial Wayfinding

Submitted by the Event Organizer

He Lani Ko Luna, A Sky Above: In Losing the Sight of Land, You Discover the Stars. Kālepa Baybayan, Navigator in Residence, and Astronomy Educator Emily Peavy join NightSchool from the Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai’i. In this introduction to the indigenous system of navigation and orientation at sea, you’ll learn about the tropical night sky and hear stories of deep-sea canoe voyaging, oceanic history and exploration, and celestial wayfinding.

Chad Kālepa Baybayan holds a Masters degree in Education from Heritage College and an undergraduate degree in Hawaiian studies from Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikölani, College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. Kālepa is a fluent speaker of the Hawaiian language and has served as captain and navigator aboard the Hawaiian deep-sea voyaging canoes Hōkūle’a, Hawai’iloa, and Hōkūalaka’i. He has been an active participant in the voyaging renaissance since 1975. He currently is the Navigator in Residence at the ʻImiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaiʻi in Hilo.

In 2007, Kālepa along with four other Hawaiian men were initiated into the Order of Pwo, the exclusive society of practicing deep-sea navigators in a ceremony performed by their teacher, Master Navigator Mau Piailug, from the Carolinian island of Satawal. The ceremony symbolized the passage of young navigators into the elite hierarchy and society of the Traditional Master Navigator and it is the highest honor that an oceanic society can bestow as recognition of navigational competence.

Emily Peavy is an Astronomy Educator with ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center. A graduate of the University of Hawai’i at Hilo with a BS. in Astronomy and a MEd. in Education focusing on live and interactive planetarium content.

Join us Thursday, August 13, at 7 pm PDT for a free NightLife Livestream! Watch on YouTube and Facebook.

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