Eclipse expedition talk Wednesday 12:30 IfA Manoa auditorium

Karen Ehrhorn has posted this for Shadia Habbal, expedition leader-

Shadia and her eclipse Team return to Honolulu on Sunday. Before many of the team leave honolulu to return home, the Team would like to give a presentation on the eclipse expedition on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 12:30 in the IfA Manoa auditorium. As some may know, the team went to Enewetak Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands to view the eclipse. To whet your appetite for the presentation, following are excerpts from the limited reports received from the team over the last week-

Thursday's message: Everyone is happy with the experiments, and though there were a few clouds, most of totality was fully visible from their location. It appears that the selection of viewing location was optimal, since, according to Associated Press reports, in most of China (where many people went to view the eclipse) clouds, drizzle, rain, and smog obscured the view. Today, a small group taking a boat to Runit island to view the large concrete cap placed over the soil and waste cleaned up from the islands. Temperatures have reached 42 C during the day.

2nd day in Majuro message: I will never complain about slow internet again. I will never complain about slow internet again. I will NEVER complain about slow interenet again!!!!

1st message about the accommodations on Enewetak : The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has donated space at the whole-body radiation counting facility they have constructed as part of the cleanup of the Marshall Islands. All of the food and water for the group was brought in from outside the island, so exposure to bio-accumulated radionuclides in local produce and water should be minimal.

Satellite Passes Tonight!

This from Ben Honey (West Hawaii Astronomy Club), forwarded by Gary Fujihara (IfA Outreach):

Tonight is an excellent opportunity to view 3 of the biggest 'satellites' in orbit right now! Endeavour will be undocking from the space station today in under 4 hours and will be slowly moving away throughout the day. This means that after dusk tonight there will be an opportunity to see both objects 'chase' each other over head. From a vantage point in Hawaii:

Look low in the Northwest at 8:52 PM. The space shuttle Endeavour will appear first. A few seconds later the ISS will become visible, brighter and chasing right behind. The pass will be brief, only about a minute, and will not get very high in the sky as the spacecraft move more northward. Therfore, make sure your view of the Northwest is unobstructed! Fortunately for me, my viewing from here in Houston - two orbits earlier - will be better with a pass almost overhead.

But that's not all! Right now a Russian Progress resupply vessel (unmanned) is chasing the Space Station from behind, to dock tomorrow. People with sharp eyes should be able to spot the Progress following approximately the same orbital track 5-7 minutes after ISS is no longer visible. The Progress is significantly smaller than the space shuttle, and thus will be dimmer. Don't be surprised if it is very hard to pick out!


You can go to Heavens Above to get this kind of prediction information by making a free account and entering your Lat/Long coordinates (however, heavens-above does not have predictions for the Progress vessel).


The NASA website SkyWatch is easy to navigate and can help you find out when to view vehicles passing over your area. I believe it includes the Progress:

TMT & an Eclipse glimpsed

Yesterday was a red letter day for astronomy in Hawaii!
Two events brought much joy:

Mauna Kea has been selected as the site for the Thirty Meter Telescope. The TMT project is an international partnership of the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, ACURA (an organization of Canadian universities), and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ).

Even though yesterday's eclipse track covered only about 10% of the Sun's surface as seen in Hawaii nei, a sidewalk astronomy outreach event, staged by Institute for Astronomy (IfA) Manoa's faculty and grads, drew interested crowds at Magic Island. Check out the Honolulu-Advertiser write up & photos of the event.

A team of solar researchers from IfA traveled to the Marshall Islands to study the eclipse. We hope they had good seeing and look forward to their photos & reports.

July 20, 1969: 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 Moonwalk

July 20, 1969:
the day human first set foot on another world, our Earth's own Moon.


Honoring this 40th anniversary, NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day features an image of that event. Click on the image to see the NASA archives original and compare it to this 2009 digital restoration.

And, there's a link to a series of Apollo 11 Partial Restoration HD Video Streams. NASA has posted the first of these "One Small Step" on YouTube, as a sample.

Guinness World Records lists the audience for the first Apollo walk on the moon as the largest ever for a space event, noting it "...was watched on TV by an estimated 600 million people, a fifth of the world's population at the time."

Can you remember that event? Where were you when it occurred?

Enjoy this anniversary as we celebrate the second half of this International Year of Astronomy!

Mauna Kea Observatories lead off "100 Hours of Astronomy"

As part of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, "100 Hours of Astronomy" is offering a 24-hour live webcast from the control rooms of 80 professional observatories around the world.

The live webcast will start off at 11pm Hawaii Standard Time [HST] on 2 April, with the Mauna Kea Observatories being the first to show the worldwide public a glimpse into the control room of a working observatory. All observatories will introduce themselves via a 5-minute video, followed by a 10-minute live conversation with the observers in the control room. During this time they will introduce a new image from each observatory that has not been publicly seen before.

Here are the scheduled times for the Mauna Kea Observatories.

Date. . . . HTS . . . . . . . Observatory
Apr 2 . . 11:00pm . . . . . . .Gemini Observatory
Apr 2 . . 11:20pm . . . . . . .Subaru Telescope, Nat'l Observ of Japan
Apr 2 . . 11:40pm . . . . . . United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT)
Apr 3 . . 00:00am [midnite] . .W.M. Keck Observatory
Apr 3 . . 00:20am . . . . . . .James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT)
Apr 3 . . 00:40am . . . . . . .Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT)
Apr 3 . . 01:00am . . . . . . .Smithsonian Submillimeter Array (SMA)
Apr 3 . . 01:20am . . . . . . .Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO)

View the webcast at "Around the World in 80 Telescopes".

For more information on the outreach activities of the Mauna Kea Observatories, please go to the MKOOC Website.

Paraphrased and quoted from press release issued by:
Inge Heyer
Chair, Mauna Kea Observatories Outreach Committee
Email: outreach@jach.hawaii.edu
Tel: +1 808 969 6524

Sun 5 April: IfA Manoa Open House 2009

Join us for the events and activities scheduled for the IfA Manoa Open House 2009

University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy
Sunday, April 5, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Free admission and parking
UH Institute for Astronomy
2680 Woodlawn Drive, Mānoa

"Look Up!" Astronomy Night @ WCC on April 4, 7-9 p.m.

Get to know your universe at Windward Community College's "Look Up!" event on Saturday, April 4, from 7:00-9:00 p.m.

Sponsored by WCC's Center for Aerospace Education, this fun astronomy event for all ages will include a variety of free or low-cost astronomy-related activities (see list below). Activities will be held on the WCC campus, in and around the Imaginarium, 'Imiloa building and Lanihuli Observatory (map: http://windward.hawaii.edu/About_WCC/Campus_Map.html). "Look Up!" will take place regardless of the weather. Food will be available at the Starlight Cafe.

"Look Up!" is part of the International Year of Astronomy's "100 Hours of Astronomy" cornerstone project. "100 Hours of Astronomy"is a worldwide event that seeks to have as many people as possible look through a telescope as Galileo did for the first time 400 years ago. For 100 hours during the weekend of April 2-5, someone somewhere in the world will be looking through a telescope. WCC's "Look Up!" event represents Hawaii in this global event for two of the 100 hours.


ACTIVITIES INCLUDE:
Imaginarium “Stargazing” Shows
A live star show held inside the Imaginarium that identifies the constellations, planets and moon phases visible in the night sky. Tickets available at the Imaginarium box office for $2/person. Showtimes: 7:00, 7:30, 8:00, 8:30 p.m.
Telescope Viewing with Hawaii Astronomical Society
Gaze at the moon and Saturn through the HAS members’ telescopes (weather permitting).
Storytelling with Emil Wolfgramm
Enjoy Polynesian stories of the stars by master storyteller Emil Wolfgramm. Showtime: 7:00-7:45 p.m.
Make-&-Take Telescope Workshop
Construct and use a working refracting telescope (similar to the one Galileo used 400 years ago) to take home with you. Cost: $2/telescope, while supplies last.
Lanihuli Observatory
Visit a working research and educational observatory that includes a radio telescope, heliostat (solar) telescope, cosmic ray telescope and 16-inch optical telescope. Optical telescope viewing, weather permitting.
Faulkes Telescope
Remotely operate UH Institute for Astronomy’s Faulkes Telescope, located on Haleakala, Maui (weather permitting).
NASA Flight Training Center AEL
Pilot NASA’s space shuttle with a virtual reality simulator and explore microgravity environments through interactive computer stations.
Aerospace Exploration Lab
Explore science concepts through hands-on activities designed especially for children in grades K-6.
Bishop Museum
Make a "Lahaina Noon" flip book to investigate the zenith passage of the sun in Hawaii.

Ironwood Observatory
An introduction to remote astro imaging using an off-grid, unattended Internet controlled observatory. Showtime: 8:15-9:00 p.m.
Film: Eyes on the Skies
Learn about the historical development of the telescope, its scientific importance, technological breakthroughs, and the people behind this ground-breaking invention.
Kids in Technology
Explore how astronauts blast off into space through bottle rocket demonstrations.
Starlight Café
Enjoy astronomically good food at this way-out café. Prices vary.

This invitation issued by Nancy Alima Ali, Imaginarium Manager, WCC

Copernicus: the latest sighting

from the magazine ARCHAEOLOGY, March/April 2009:

“POLAND: Until now, no one knew for certain what happened to the remains of Nicolas Copernicus, the 16th-century astronomer who proclaimed that the earth revolves around the sun. Scientists have solved the mystery--they matched DNA from a skeleton, found in a cathedral in 2005, with DNA from hair taken from Copernicus's copy of Johannes Stoeffler's Calendarium Romanum Magnum.
A facial reconstruction based on the skull bears a convincing likeness to portraits of the heretical scientist, from the scar above his eye to his crooked nose. “

To see a photo of the reconstruction go to ‘World Roundup’ [Patel, S. 2009: 62 (2): 11]

Friday night 'two-for' special at WCC Imaginarium & Observatory

Tonight Friday February 20, two special events will occur:
from 7pm – 8pm

the Hokulani Imaginarium at Windward Community College

presents
Cosmic Perceptions takes the Imaginarium audience on a journey across the seas of time and space--from Stonehenge to the Hubble Space Telescope. Learn how we observe and perceive nature by taking an imaginary flight on a beam of light into the human eye, down the optic nerve and across the neurons in our brain.Cosmic Perceptions also tells the story of how astronomers are expanding our knowledge of the heavens with new and more powerful telescopes.Through the use of the Imaginarium's interactive response system, audience members will get a chance to challenge their own understanding of the Cosmos.

Tickets may be purchased at the Imaginarium box office 30 minutes before the show, or call 235-7433 to reserve tickets in advance. [$3 for children (12 and under); $4 for UH students, military or seniors (65+); $5 for adults]

followed 8pm-9pm by: NASA Great Observatories Images
at the Lanihuli Observatory [Windward Community College]
A special unveiling of spectacular, multiwavelength images of our universe taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope and Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Cost: Free

You'll be able to see the ISS tonight & tomorrow from Hawai'i. If you check out the Heavens Above website, you can see the times it will pass overhead and the magnitude:

http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=25544&lat=21.29433&lng=-157.8344&loc=Honolulu&alt=0&tz=UCT10

You can really see it at 6:56 on Friday.

You can also use Heavens Above to find Iridium flares, which are also cool.

Thanks to Richard Wainscoat for the reminder e-mail.