GUEST SPEAKER: Jonathan Arenberg, Chief Engineer, Space Science Missions, Northrup Grumman Aerospace Systems ASTRONOMY TALK | Large space observatories are a foundation for scientific advancement. This talk will explore the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the James Webb Space Telescope. Their missions, designs, construction, and testing will be explained and discussed. Some of the unique challenges […]
GUEST SPEAKER: Dr. Carlos Alvarez, W. M. Keck Observatory Astronomer MAUNAKEA SKIES ASTRONOMY TALK | The Exoplanet Imaginarium is the result of a collaboration between the W. M. Keck Observatory and award-winning exoplanet artist Adam Makarenko. Together, we have created a science-based artistic rendering of a variety of exoplanet scenes. Through this project, we bring […]
GUEST SPEAKER: Steven Businger, Professor, Atmospheric Sciences Department, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa ASTRONOMY TALK | University of Hawai`i Professor Steven Businger will offer a layman’s look at the cultural and historical significance of rainbows in Hawai`i. He will also present the science behind rainbow phenomenon and why Hawai`i is the best place in the […]
Check out planet Mercury pass across the Sun! W. M. Keck Observatory invites the community to its Mercury Transit Viewing at its headquarters in Waimea. We’ll start the morning showing a live feed of the beginning of the transit in the Jerry Nelson Conference Room. When the Sun comes over North Hawaii Community Hospital, come […]
W. M. Keck Observatory, in partnership with Canada France Hawaii Telescope Corporation (CFHT), University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, and Waimea Public Library present: Waimea Solar System Walk 2019 Bring your ohana to this family-friendly event for an interstellar journey right in Waimea town. Start at W. M. Keck Observatory’s Headquarters, walk through a scale […]
GUEST SPEAKER: J. Christopher Howk, Professor of Physics, University of Notre Dame ASTRONOMY TALK | Maunakea Observatories are among the most powerful ground-based telescopes in the world. They become even more powerful when combined with the use of telescopes in space, allowing astronomers to explore the extremes of the universe. As the best-known space observatory […]
GUEST SPEAKER: John O’Meara, W. M. Keck Observatory Chief Scientist ASTRONOMY TALK | Even with the most powerful telescopes and instrumentation, astronomy faces a fundamental problem: the ability to determine the distance to objects in the cosmos. From the solar system to the cosmic microwave background, the history of astronomy is intertwined with the hunt […]
GUEST SPEAKERS: Astronomers Geoffrey Bower, Jessica Dempsey, and Doug Simons and Larry Kimura from the College of Hawaiian Language, University of Hawai`i Hilo ASTRONOMY TALK | Join us to talk story about the groundbreaking results from the Event Horizon Telescope and the pioneering role the Maunakea Observatories played in this nearly-impossible experiment. We will also […]
GUEST SPEAKER: Will Grundy, Astronomer, Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona ASTRONOMY TALK | NASA’s New Horizons mission broke records on New Year’s Day 2019 after encountering the most distant object in our solar system ever explored by a spacecraft – a small Kuiper Belt object named 486958 2014 MU69, also known as Ultima Thule. The peanut-shaped […]
GUEST SPEAKER: Courtney Dressing, UC Berkeley Assistant Professor of Astronomy ASTRONOMY TALK | The NASA Kepler mission revealed that our Galaxy is teeming with planetary systems and that Earth-sized planets are common, but most of the planets Kepler detected orbit stars that are too faint to permit detailed study. Excitingly, the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey […]
GUEST SPEAKER: Marusa Bradac, UC Davis Associate Physics Professor ASTRONOMY TALK | One of the greatest accomplishments in recent astrophysics is the creation of a model for the history of the universe. The newborn universe was a dark place until the very first galaxies lit it up. Travel at the speed of light to journey back in […]
GUEST SPEAKER: Matt Malkan, UCLA Professor of Astronomy ASTRONOMY TALK | What’s new in the young universe? Shortly after the Big Bang, our universe has been measured to have been almost amazingly uniform. Fortunately for our existence, it didn’t stay that way long. The excess gravity of slightly over-dense regions slowed their expansion and eventually caused […]
