Institute for Astronomy holds popular open house

The Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa will host its annual open house on Sunday, April 12, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. The theme for 2015 is the International Year of Light, which was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly to raise awareness of the importance of light and light-based technologies for sustainable development.

Light-related activities

• Sun observing with telescopes
• Astrophotography
• Infrared camera that allows event attendees to see what they look like at infrared wavelengths
• Talk about the invisible (to our eyes) universe
• Spectroscopy school to learn how astronomers use the rainbow of light from distant objects to understand their composition and temperature

More open house activities

• Air-powered rockets brought by UH Mānoa SUPER-M
• Hands-on physics toys from the staff of the Windward Community College Imaginarium
• 3-D printer demonstration and a wind tunnel courtesy of the Pacific Aviation Museum
• Bishop Museum’s Digitalis portable planetarium
• Polynesian Voyaging Society talks
• Tours of the CAVE, a 3-D virtual environment
• Ask an Astronomer activities
• Keiki activities like face painting, sundial making and bottle-rocket launching
• A talk by Brent Tully explaining the Laniakea Supercluster—a vast collection of over 100,000 galaxies whose Hawaiian name honors the Polynesian navigators who used their knowledge of the heavens to cross the immense Pacific Ocean

Institute for Astronomy open house admission and parking is free. The institute is located at 2680 Woodlawn Drive.

UH News video from the 2013 open house