Institute for Astronomy to hold popular open house on Sunday, April 12

Open House goers will have the chance to see what they look like in infrared. Photo by Zack Gazak.

The Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa will host its annual Open House on Sunday, April 12, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at its Mānoa headquarters, 2680 Woodlawn Drive. Admission and parking will be free.

The theme for 2015 is the International Year of Light 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 will include observing the sun through telescopes, astrophotography, an infrared camera that will allow event attendees to see what they look like at infrared wavelengths, a talk about the invisible (to our eyes) universe, and a spectroscopy school to learn how astronomers use the rainbow of light from distant objects to understand their composition and temperature.

Experience air-powered rockets brought by UH Mānoa SUPER-M (as in mathematics), a hologram (three-dimensional picture), hands-on physics toys brought by the staff of the Windward Community College Imaginarium, a 3-D printer demonstration, and a wind tunnel courtesy of the Pacific Aviation Museum.

The Bishop Museum is bringing its brand new Digitalis portable planetarium so attendees can explore the night sky, and the Polynesian Voyaging Society will be there, too.

The CAVE, a 3-D virtual environment, will again be available for tours.  And the Ask an Astronomer will feature researchers who will be wearing funny hats. For the keiki, there will be face painting, sundial making and bottle-rocket launching.

There will be talks and videos on a variety of astronomy-related topics. Dr. Brent Tully will be there to explain 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.

About the Institute for Astronomy (http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/)
Founded in 1967, the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa conducts research into galaxies, cosmology, stars, planets, and the sun. Its faculty and staff are also involved in astronomy education, deep space missions, and in the development and management of the observatories on Haleakala and Maunakea. The Institute operates facilities on the islands of Oʻahu, Maui, and Hawaiʻi.

For more information, visit: http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/open-house

• Open House Flier