Guest Speaker: David Reitze, Executive Director, LIGO Laboratory, California Institute of TechnologyASTRONOMY TALK | The first direct detections of gravitational waves in late 2015 were made possible by a dedicated forty year quest to design, build, and operate LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory. Why so long?? Dr. Reitze will discuss what makes gravitational waves so […]
Abraham Loeb, Chair of the Astronomy Department, Founding Director of the Black Hole Initiative, Director of the Institute for Theory and Computation Harvard UniversityASTRONOMY TALK | Is life most likely to emerge at the present cosmic time near a star like the Sun? Dr. Loeb will review the habitability of the universe throughout cosmic history […]
Dan David Prize Winner, Shrinivas Kulkarni California Institute of TechnologyCosmic explosions were first noted nearly two thousand years ago but only in the past hundred years have astronomers secured recognition of classes of explosions ranging from exotic eruptions to the death of stars (supernovae). The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) and its successor, the Zwicky Transient Factory (ZTF) […]
Our current story for the origin of the heavy elements has at its core a recycling program on the grandest of scales. Using Keck, we have traced atoms as they flow from the intergalactic medium into galaxies, where they are incorporated into stars, undergo fusion, and are returned in supernovae and other types of stellar […]
Observing distant objects allows us to peer back in time to early stages of the universe, across the most active period of galaxy growth when most stars were born. While galaxies are challenging to study at such large distances, nature occasionally gives us an advantage through the phenomenon of gravitational lensing. The lensing effect can […]
Join us for the Waimea Solar System Walk on Saturday, October 29, 2016. The walk begins at Keck HQ and ends at CFHT HQ, with booths along the route. Free admission to ‘Imiloa for all keiki completing the Solar System Walk. Refreshments Hamburgers and hot dogs Costume Contest will begin at 1pm at CFHT. […]
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 […]
In 2015, the global wind machine fired up record numbers of powerful hurricanes in the central Pacific, with several making close passes to the Island of Hawaii. Is it possible that the Island of Hawaii is protected from a direct hurricane impact by Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea? What does the historical record tell us? […]
Is life common in the universe, or rare? Humans have pondered this question for millennia. Today we are privileged to be able to bring the tools of modern science to answer questions that were once the province of philosophers and theologians. In this Astronomy Talk, Dr. Carl Pilcher, Interim Director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, […]
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 […]
