In our standard model of cosmology, only five percent of the mass-energy budget of the Universe is accounted for by particles that have been detected in Earth-based laboratories. The remaining 95 percent, called dark matter and dark energy, has only been detected gravitationally via astronomical observations. Although the abundance of dark matter and dark energy […]
Where We Came From — How Solar Systems FormHow common are Earths? Unknown just a generation ago, more than 2,000 planets have been discovered orbiting other stars in our galaxy and Hawaii’s own Keck Observatory has been at the forefront of this incredibly exciting field. We have invited Professor Greg Laughlin, an expert on planet […]
A Hilo native born in Keaukaha and raised in Panaʻewa, Celeste “Cesi” Manuia Ha’o is an Educate Associate and the Outreach Coordinator of the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaiʻi. Also a member of the ʻOhana Waʻa, Celeste is an apprentice navigator who recently co-navigated Hawaiʻi’s famed voyaging canoe, Hōkūleʻa, as part of the Mālama Honua […]
Knowledge about our own Solar System has increased by leaps and bounds over the past few decades due to a combination of spacecraft missions and technical advancements at the W. M. Keck Observatory and other telescopes.Imke de Pater, Professor of Astronomy at University of California, Berkeley will start with a short overview of the numerous […]
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will discuss America’s space program and the challenges the agency faces for the missions of tomorrow. Using a stepping stone approach that builds on the capabilities of our unique orbiting laboratory – the International Space Station – the growing abilities of commercial providers to reach space, and a new rocket and […]
The Stellar Zoo at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy would be quite unfamiliar to a terrestrial visitor. Not only do the types of stars differ in many ways from what we can see in our serene nighttime sky from Earth, but the stars at the galactic center are also not behaving like the […]
University of Hawaii Meterorology Professor, Steven Businger will offer a layman’s look at the amazing variety of weather experienced by the Island of Hawaii and will include lots of imagery and illustrations. Topics touched on will include the impact of hurricanes, thunderstorms and blizzards on the Big Island, forecasting for astronomy on Mauna Kea, and some thoughts on the […]
As the building blocks of the Universe, galaxies are massive structures that can contain trillions of stars. Galaxies in today’s Universe show a striking diversity among their properties, with large variations in their appearance, age, size, weight, and stellar birth rate. Despite this diversity, galaxies can broadly be divided into two types: low-mass spiral galaxies […]
This Cosmic Video was produced from the June 19, 2014 Astronomy Talk given at Kahilu Theatre. The original description is below:In the first several hundred million years after the Big Bang, the Universe was too hot for stars and galaxies to form. As the Universe cooled and its expansion slowed, gravity caused the first stars […]
The Galactic Center Group at UCLA has used the W. M. Keck Observatory for the past two decades to observe the center of the Milky Way at the highest angular resolution possible. This work established the existence of a supermassive black hole at the heart of our Galaxy. In this talk, Dr. Leo Meyer, Research […]
W. M. Keck Observatory astronomer Greg Doppmann will give a talk on circumstellar disks that surround newly formed stars. The inner regions of such disks are where rocky, and perhaps Earth-like planets are believed to form. Searching these planet-forming environments for compounds that promote life, such as water and organic molecules, is the focus of […]
Andrew Howard, astronomer from the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy, will give an illuminating talk about the hunt for exoplanets and the quest for another Earth. Since 1995, more than 3,000 exoplanets have been discovered. Many of these planets look nothing like the planets of our Solar System — strange orbits, unusual compositions, and unknown […]
