Special Events & Programs Page

Check this site for future and recent past events and programs in the UH Hilo Physics and Astronomy community.

A poster of Hōkū Ke'a, UH Hilo's proposed 0.9m Telescope on Mauna Kea, is presented at the Legislature, on 6 March 2008.

UH Hilo Institute for Astronomy (IfA) set up a booth at the State Capitol during the Science and Technology Day on the Legislative floor.  Along with their display board, they graciously displayed the Physics and Astronomy poster of UH Hilo's proposed Hōkū Ke’a telescope. There were many lawmakers, staffers, students and teachers who visited and asked about the project.  Here is a picture Gary Fujihara, from IfA's Science Education & Public Outreach, took of the display before it got busy.

2006 Astro Day in Hilo.

Faculty of UH Hilo Department of Physics and Astronomy and staff of UH Hilo Institute for Astronomy (IfA) participated in AstroDay 2006. AstroDay is a celebration of astronomy and Hawaiian culture, with a mission to educate the public on the cultural significance, and scientific importance of Mauna Kea. AstroDay was held, again at the Prince Kuhio Plaza in Hilo on Saturday, May 6th.  The event featured Mauna Kea Observatories exhibits, Hawaiian cultural displays, students science projects, liquid nitrogen demonstrations, an infrared camera portrait studio, StarLab Planetarium shows, scholastic robotics competition and demonstrations, telescope viewing and a Kids Corner with fun activities for youngsters.  In addition to the exhibits, live Hawaiian slack key guitar music was performed at the event.
See the attached link for photos of the event.


Current UH Hilo Department of Physics and Astronomy Power Point Presentation.

The UH Hilo Department of Physics and Astronomy has developed a program to present to community and academic gatherings. The current Power Point presentation is presented at the following website link: http://hubble.uhh.hawaii.edu/UHH/UHH_P&A_files/frame.htm.


ASHRA-All-sky Survey High Resolution Air-shower Detector- 3rd International Collaboration Meeting, held 10-12 March 2005 at Hilo.

ASHRA (All-sky Survey High Resolution Air-shower Detector) is a project begun at the University of Tokyo, Institute of Cosmic Ray Research with the goal of using new and relatively inexpensive imaging technology to observe ultra high energy cosmic rays via their nitrogen fluorescence in the earth's atmosphere.

The UH Hilo Department of Physics and Astronomy hosted the collaboration meeting, held in Hilo. To learn more about the conference, past meetings, and the project, enter here.


Center for Adaptive Optics-UH Hilo Internship Forum, 1 February 2005

On February 1, 2005, the University of Hawaii at Hilo (UH Hilo) and the Center for Adaptive Optics (CfAO) sponsored a forum of research papers given by four UH Hilo interns, two of whom were placed with Mauna Kea observatories through CfAO.

CfAO is a Science and Technology Center (STC) funded by the National Science Foundation. The Center researches Adaptive Optics in astronomy, and other applications, to remove the effects of image blurring through turbulent media. The Hawaii Island Akamai Intership Program, sponsored by CfAO places and supervises undergraduate colleges and community college students studying science, technology, engineering, and math, into paid interships at observatories. You can link directly to the CfAO page to learn more about internships.

Student Presentations

The presentations given at the symposium covered a wide range of astronomy topics:

A Correlation Between Water Vapor Measured in the Near Infrared and Optical Depth Measured at 225 GHz.
Jennie Berghuis (UH Institute for Astronomy)

Investigation into the Effects of Antenna Tilts on Pointing for the SMA Antennas.
Ben Berkey (Sub-Millimeter Array)

Data Reduction, Observing Runs and Science: Summer Internship at the Gemini Observatory.
Sarah Knights (Gemini Observatory)

L and Ms Band Spectroscopy with NIRC2 and Keck II Adaptive Optics: Feasibility Observations of NGC7027 and DH141569.
Sunny Stewart (W.M. Keck Observatory)

A flyer for the symposium, with CfAO contact names and numbers, can be accessed in PDF.

Photographs

Visit the Photographs Page for selected scenes from the Symposium.