Residents of Waimea know to brace for the Christmas Parade. For an evening half the island population descends upon this little town. Days ahead of time, the parking spots along the street, far from the store’s front doors, normally empty, will be full of pickup trucks as people stake out their favorite spot to watch the parade.
The crowd along the parade route for the 2016 Waimea Christmas ParadeThe main road closes at 5:30pm, important to know as this closure cuts the ring road around the island. By this time the crowd has grown to a size that is quite surprising on this island. Are there actually that many people here?
This year Keck and CFHT cooperated on a float. Really a decorated truck like most entries in the parade. We handed out glow sticks and glow bracelets to the kids along the parade route. walking along with the group is fun, of course I have a camera along.
Aboard the CFHT and Keck float in the 2016 Waimea Christmas ParadeAfter the parade it was time for a star party… Only one issue… Calling it a star party is a bit of a misnomer. There were no stars, there were no telescopes. Two ‘scopes did get set up briefly, then the rain began. With the ongoing winter storm there were only a few glimpses of the moon through the clouds, otherwise nothing to see. The telescopes stayed in the vehicles.
Visitors enjoy telescopes under the star at the Mauna Kea VIS
Everyone at the VIS was enjoying the night!
The 11″ NexStar GPS telescope, GyPSy set up at Ka’Ohe
The 20″ Obsession telescope awaiting full dark at Kaʻohe, on the side of Mauna Kea
Telescopes at Oregon Star Party 2013
A group of local school students with the 20″ telescope
The observing table during visual observing, all the necessities… charts, guides, binoculars, observing notebook and something to drink.
Maureen setting up for some public observing to support Keck’s Evening with Astronomers
The observing field at the Farnsworth Ranch, with the Silverbell Mountains in the background and Kitt Peak just visible at far right. The field is unusually green after heavy spring rains. The clouds are rapidly departing to the east.
Observing from the Mauna Loa research station, the trace of red lights in 116 x 20sec exposures, the AMiBA telescope is in the background
Ken and Ann Jones oberving with their 18″ at Oregon Star Party 2013
Debbie Goodwin gazes at Saturn through a C-14 at an evening star party in Waikoloa
The 20″ Obsession telescope being set up at Kaʻohe, on the side of Mauna Kea
My 18″ telescope Deep violet set up under the stars at the MKVIS.
Green lasers in use at the Mauna Kea VIS nightly observing with the Milky Way high overhead
A princess looking through the telescope while we were set up at the King’s Shops
Cliff sets up his 24″ scope on the next target.
The restored 20″ Obsession telescope set up at Hale Pohaku on the side of Mauna Kea
Chris Fuld collimating his 40.5 inch dobsonian
Visitors enjoy great views of an active Sun at the 2012 Waimea Planet Walk
Bright sunset colors silhouette a telescope at Oregon Star Party 2013
Olivier beside his new telescope, a 12″ Orion Dobsonian
The NexStar 11″, the TV76mm and a Canon 60D setup for astrophotography at the MKVIS
A telescope set up on the grounds of the Mauna Kea resort awaiting dark skies
A line of big ‘scopes to greet a huge Saturday crowd at the MKVIS
Maureen sharing her telescope with guests at Keck’s Evening with Astronomers
A trio of telescopes awaiting darkness at Oregon Star Party
Deb pointing out the star βPhoenicis to VIS volunteer Joe McDonough
The telescope line at Sentinel for the 2005 Sentinel-Schwaar Star Gaze
A family enjoys a view of the Sun in the telescope
The telescopes are nearly ready, now to wait for dark!
The author waiting for dark at the 2005 All Arizona Messier Marathon with my usual visual setup including Deep Violet
Almost all of the big dobsonian telescopes to be found on Hawai’i show up at the VIS for the night.
Steve Dillinger’s 20″ Dob awaiting full dark at Sentinel, AZ with Venus and the Moon shining behind
Tony shows a group of enthusiastic student views with his 12.5″ dob.
A trio of telescopes set up for astrophtography at the Mauna Kea VIS
Local amateur astronomers set up their own telescopes behind the main building at Lick Observatory
A camper and telescope set up under a starry sky
Tony’s 14″ dob with a long line of folks waiting to view
Walking from the Sun to Neptune is easy… At least when they are set up in a scale model along main street Waimea.
A fun day… The Sun, telescopes, the planets, a few asteroids represented by meteorites, and plenty of activities for the kids. It was a great day to be in Waimea as CFHT and Keck put on the Solar System Walk 2016…
The inner solar system sits in front of Keck Observatory for the 2016 Solar System Walk
Jane hands out passports for the planets at the 2016 Solar System Walk
A young observer checks out the Sun
Chris showing a young observer the Sun through a telescope with hydrogen alpha filter
Gary Fujihara with his meteorite collection representing the asteroids
Local kids check out the meteorites in Gary’s educational collection
A helmet from the movie The Martian brought by the HI-SEAS folks for the Mars tent
Obsession Telescopes are something of a standard in the astronomy community. David Kriege was one of the first to start building truss tube dobsonian telescopes commercially, bringing portable large aperture telescopes to the astronomy community. These telescopes were a bit of a revolution in the pursuit, with sizes unreachable only a decade before, when a 10″ or 12″ telescope was considered big. When I built my 18″ it is David Kriege’s book I used for much of the design, following in the footsteps of so many amateur astronomers.
The restored 20″ Obsession telescope set up at hale Pohaku on the side of Mauna Kea
A 20″ f/4 Obsession donated to the observatory has presented a challenge and an opportunity. The telescope was the prized possession of Bob Michael having been ordered new directly from Obsession. The telescope is serial number 004 with a manufacturing date of June 1st, 1990. As David started Obsession Telescope in 1989, this is a very early example of his work. For many years Bob and his wife used this telescope to observe, completing the Herschel 400 and other observing projects. Unfortunately he was forced to give up astronomy due to age and glaucoma, donating his equipment to the observatory.
Not a call I want to get just a few hours before our astronomy club meeting… My presenter for the evening? Tooth extraction?
Andrea Ghez talking at the July WHAC meetingYeah, we have no main lecture for the evening.
The West Hawaii Astronomy Club is not a large club, more than a dozen folks is a big meeting. Still, these are dedicated amateur astronomers that can be relied upon to help out with school star parties and observatory events. They have driven all the way to Waimea because I promised them a lecture from an astronomer. A few folks come from Kona 45 minutes to an hour away. I really want to give them something worth the effort of getting here.
They will just have to settle for a talk with Andrea Ghez.
Yes, that Andrea, the closest thing we have to a superstar in astronomy. Discoverer of the black hole at the center of our galaxy, winner of the Crafoord Prize and the Bakerian Medal… That Andrea.
I ran into Andrea at dinner next door to the observatory, we know each other from other outreach events and swapping photos. She is a regular Keck observer with research that concentrates on the massive black hole at the core of our Milky Way galaxy. I asked her if she could come talk with the club, or rather I begged a bit. Being the gracious lady she is, she said yes. Thanks Andrea!!
It was so much better than the warmed over presentation I had thought I would be giving this evening. The small group allowed something closer to a conversation than a lecture. There were some good questions too! We moved past the basics pretty quickly with a group that knew more than a little about the subject. I found the evening very informative, I think everyone did.
You have heard it before, but it really is true! Looking at the Sun for longer than a few brief moments with an unprotected eye can lead to permanent damage. Looking at the Sun with any sort of optical deceive that has not been properly filtered can lead to instantaneous eye damage.
The complex sunspot AR2192 visible on 24 October, 2014
Discussed below are the only safe methods I am aware of to view the Sun. There are some dodgy methods out there. Take chance with your irreplaceable eyesight? I think not. Be careful and do it right if you want a look.
For the unaided eye there are a couple options to view the Sun safely…
It was a perfect day to do an astronomy outreach event. Of course as it was a daytime event, only one star is available for viewing in the telescopes… The Sun. Set up a few solar telescopes for an astro outreach event.
Josh showing the crowd our Sun in the telescopeA simple plan… Set up in the lawn in front of Keck Observatory headquarters and wait for the crowds around the telescopes. Not that I have any illusions about our little outreach event drawing huge crowds. There is a method to my plan, we do this on the same day as Cherry Blossom Festival!
The festival guarantees a huge crowd of people for an outreach event, no advertising needed. The main part of the festival takes place along church row where the cherry trees are, next door to Keck headquarters. Much of the available parking is at the shopping centers on the other side of headquarters. There is a steady stream of hundreds of people right through our lawn. All we needed to do was to set up and be ready for a crowd.
A few friendly looking telescopes, a couple signs with the prominent word “free”… We had a crowd! As one would expect they came in surges, for four hours it varied between a few people at each telescope to a good sized line at every telescope, with up to fifty people gathered around at at time. We had three telescopes operating, two eight inch telescopes with white light filters and the Coronado PST providing a hydrogen alpha view.
We have a lot of fun when the kids come to visit. We regularly offer tours of Keck to local school groups. When they come we lay in a schedule of activities… Solar telescopes, an IR camera demonstration, tours of our remote operations, the activities can vary depending on the grade level.
After the last tour we got a packet of thank you letters from one of the classes. These are just fun to read, it is great to see what the kids remember from their visit. A drawing of telescopes set up in the lawn caught my eye, I was responsible for running the solar telescope activity!
A thank you letter from a student after a tour of Keck Observatory
With a few public outreach events this last week I had a few opportunities to hold my phone up to the eyepiece and shoot a few shots of a waxing Moon. The iPhone 5S does have a notably better camera than my old 3S. The afocal method does provide some nice snapshots of the Moon.
As usual I demonstrated the technique to our viewers, showing them how to use their phone to shoot the Moon. The result? Big smiles and happy folks, thrilled to have some great Moon photos of their own.
The Moon approaching full, afocal photograph with an iPhone 5S and a small refractor
Preparing for the crowd at Laupāhoehoe Charter SchoolI worry a bit about helping out with a school star party sometimes. When I drum up a few volunteers and telescopes for an event I wonder if we will have clear skies and a good audience. These great guys are coming because I asked them. Will it be worth the effort of the volunteers to pack a ‘scope and drive across the island?
Nothing is more frustrating than a crowd of kids wanting to see through the telescope and all you can show them is the bottom of a cloud. I was worrying again as I left Waimea under a solid overcast. Maybe it will be better on the other side of the island? My fear is justified by past experience, the windward side is often cloudy or even rainy in the evening. Arriving at Honokaʻa it was still overcast, maybe down the coast? Over Laupāhoehoe it was clear! How can this be? We got really lucky.
The next worry was the crowd. While setting up there were a dozen telescopes but only a handful of folks waiting for us. But as it got dark the people kept arriving, a steady stream of students and families. A large area of blankets appeared, covering the playing field. William and the other organizers had done a great job of putting out the message to the community, we had a great crowd.
With a quarter Moon we had a good target even before it got dark. Better yet, there were no lights on the field and only a small town below us. After the light faded it was pretty dark on the field, dark enough to show nebulae and star clusters in all their glory.
I spent much of the evening on the Orion Nebula. It looked great in the ‘scope and I could tell the tale of star formation occurring in the clouds of gas visible in the eyepiece. I took a few iPhone photos of the Moon, demonstrating how it was done. The quarter phase was revealing great topography along the terminator.
In the end my worries were for naught. Everything went very well. A lot of happy kids and parents, presented with a good view of our endlessly fascinating universe.
Preparing for the crowd at Laupāhoehoe Charter School
Cliff performing and alignment on his outreach telescope
Josh setting up his ‘scope set up very low for the kids.
Vaugn set up ahead of everyone else with a 12″ dobsonian
The telescopes are nearly ready, now to wait for dark!
Blankets appear as everyone prepares to enjoy the evening
Getting a look at the moon before it gets dark.
iPhone 5S photo of the Moon through a NexStar 11″, afocal method with a 35mm eyepiece
iPhone 5S photo of the Moon through a 6″ dob, afocal method
