ʻImiloa Astronomy Center’s A Hua He Inoa Program Introduces Leleakūhonua
The ʻImiloa Astronomy Center’s A Hua He Inoa program has produced another Hawaiian name, this one, Leleakūhonua, for a remarkable dwarf planet discovered by the Maunakea Observatories. Just as with the naming of Pōniuaʻena (Quasar J1007+2115), the name for this new object was created during an inservice teacher development program, called Leo Ola Week, done in partnership with UH-Hilo's Ka Haka ʻUla o Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language and ʻImiloa’s A Hua He Inoa program. Sponsored by the Department of Education, the Leo Ola Week program recruited 30 Hawaiian immersion school teachers and tasked them with learning creation stories of different cultures, creating related curriculum, and producing the names for Pōniuaʻena and the dwarf planet (previously called 2015 TG387) now officially known as Leleakūhonua.
400 Earth years of Leleakūhonua’s motion compressed into a minute. This video simulation of Leleakūhonua orbiting the sun was created with JPL’s Solar System Dynamics.
Leleakūhonua was discovered through observations at the Subaru Telescope. At its most distant point in its 32,000 year orbit around the Sun, this dwarf planet is about 1000 times farther than the earth is from the Sun. “Ua nui ko mākou ʻiʻini e hoʻopili i ke ʻano o ke kiʻinahana a nā kūpuna ma ka noʻonoʻo, ke kālailai, a me ke kilo ʻana i ke ʻano o ia mau mea e like me ka nui i hiki (We were eager to apply, as closely as possible, the way that our forebears approached thinking, studying, observing and naming these kinds of objects in nature),” says Kumu Kauʻi Kaina, one of the participants in the program. Leleakūhonua references a life form mentioned in the Hawaiian creation chant, the Kumulipo. This name compares the dwarf planet’s orbit to the flight of migratory birds, and evokes a yearning to be near the Earth. “It is so important that we continue on this path of refocusing science and discovery within our Hawaiian culture, said ‘Imiloa Executive Director Kaʻiu Kimura. “The worldview and linguistic competence of these Hawaiian immersion school teachers came to the fore with the creation of these names that are critical for our understanding of these types of cosmic discoveries. Facilitating positive collaboration between Hawaiʻi-based science experts and Hawaiian language experts through projects like A Hua He Inoa is what ʻImiloa is all about and we look forward to continuing to forge this path, together for years to come.”
The A Hua He Inoa program creates a pathway to align language and culture at the core of modern scientific practices, melding indigenous culture and science locally, nationally and worldwide. The program benefits from collaborations in our Hawaiʻi community and sets an important example for partnership between other indigenous cultures and science communities globally. ʻAʻole paha kēia he haʻawina e aʻoaʻo nui ʻia aku i kēia mau lā, a he kūpono ka hāpai ʻana i ia mau loina i mea e ola ai ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi ma ʻō a ma ʻō o ka honua (It’s indeed a rare learning opportunity and so relevant to apply these cultural practices to ensure that our ʻōlelo, our language, lives throughout the universe),” says Kaina. “Ua lilo kēia he haʻawina noʻu e aʻoaʻo aku ai i nā haumāna kula kaiapuni e noʻonoʻo ai lākou i nā ʻano pōʻaiapili like ʻole o ke kapa inoa ʻana, kona waiwai, a me nā manaʻo mauli Hawaiʻi e hoʻopaʻa aku nō i ia mau inoa (This program inspired me to mentor my own students through this process of giving names, especially given the significance of doing so with a Hawaiian cultural identity as the foundation).”
The name Leleakūhonnua was submitted to the International Astronomical Union and was approved in Summer 2020 as this object’s official, internationally recognized name. Leleakūhonua is the sixth major astronomical discovery from Hawaiʻi-based observatories to receive a Hawaiian name via A Hua He Inoa. Others include the asteroids ‘Oumuamua, Kamoʻoalewa, Kaʻepaokaʻāwela, the black hole Pōwehi, and quasar Pōnuiaʻēna.