Join us this Sunday for a live broadcast from Keck 2 remote observing! Here at Keck we will be participating in a campaign to observe Saturn’s auroras. Join JPL scientist Dr. Kevin Baines and Dr. Tom Stallard of the University of Leicester while they are engaged in using the telescope.
This false-color composite image, constructed from data obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Image credit NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/University of LeicesterSunday April 21st
3am-5am Hawai’i Standard Time
6am-8am Pacific Daylight Time
9am-11am Eastern Daylight Time
1pm-3pm UT
At Keck the team of astronomers have five half night’s of observing on Keck 2 using the NIRSPEC spectrograph. They will be making infrared observations to understand more about the auroral features and the interaction of Saturn’s atmosphere with the planet’s magnetic fields.
Almost a week later and the comments keep coming in… E-mails to the observatory, comments on my blog, people are still pulling me aside to offer their comments in person. It is somewhat overwhelming. Did we really manage to do this?
The transit webcast station while on-the-air, photo courtesy Mark Senft
I spent 6 and change hours with you guys and I really appreciated your dedication to keeping everything up and running for us all around the world. HATS OFF YOU YOU ALL! – Kyle
We are in currently rainy Western Australia, and your webcast was the only way that we got to see the transit at all. My kids’ primary school all tuned into you at some point during the day. 🙂 – Carina
I have been reading the comments as they come in. It is truly gratifying that we managed to share this unique event with so many people.
You made my wife’s day! She was stuck at work & had you and the Keck team in the background for the entire transit! She is eternally grateful! Mahalo nui loa! – Joel
I watched your webcast of the transit from start to finish (with a few breaks here and there). What a great job you guys did! Fascinating, funny and I learned a lot in the process. Thank you for your efforts, and I too look forward to other webcasts from Keck. – Carol
I do not expect we will be doing this again right away. It takes the right sort of event. The one previous webcast was during the close approach of the asteroid 2005 YU55 in November of 2011. That time we webcast from the remote operations room in Waimea. It was also a good success, with great cooperation from the astronomers doing the observation. Need to take advantage of the best opportunities.
Thank you all for your hard work and dedication. I signed on t minus 10 min and stayed until you guys went off the air. I enjoyed myself the entire time. I know for a fact that a lot of people learned tons during this broadcast. My wish, hope and dream is that you continue to do events like this. You all gave it such a warm (beep) behind the scenes feel that made us all feel “part of the science.” The picture in picture was awesome and the graphics support mid-show was much appreciated. I can’t wait until next time! – Eric
We supported an average of between 5k and 6k viewers at any given time, with a total of over 100,000 live views. This viewer count may have badly underestimated the actual number of viewers, often the feed was being shown to large crowds at other public venues. Andrea Ghez mentioned that they were showing our feed at the UCLA event, the feed was on at at least two schools, and our own crowded Hualalai auditorium at Keck Headquarters in Waimea. I keep learning of other crowds the feed was shown to…
“Our observatory in Sonoma County was clouded out much of the day so we had your feed up for our 300+ visitors to supplement live viewing between the clouds. After sunset I went home to watch the rest of the transit on UStream and read the firehose of comments. It was a giant star party! Thanks for all the effort. Best outreach ever!” – Cecelia
A great experience shared with so many people across the globe. Thanks to everyone who made the Transit of Venus such a great day… Our Keck crew and the viewers who were there with us.
The June 2004 Transit of Venus, image credit Jan HeroldThe gear is tested, packed and ready. All of the arrangements have been made. It is time for the 2012 Transit of Venus!
We will be webcasting the transit live from the Keck telescopes at the summit of Mauna Kea. Tune in for images of the transit, and a lot of information about the transit. Larry O’Hanlon and I will be talking about the transit, the science, the history, and just generally enjoying the experience. You are invited to join us. Expect the broadcast to start about 11:45HST, or about 25 minutes before first contact.
Want to see for yourself? There are multiple locations around the island where you will find solar telescopes and volunteer guides to answer your questions about this event. Not on the Big Island? Check you local paper or look up your local astronomy club to find public events. Science museums, colleges, astronomy clubs and other astronomy organizations are organizing public events wherever the transit can be seen.
Please exercise caution when viewing the Sun! Use appropriate eye protection or indirect observing techniques to project an image of the Sun. The link at the start of this paragraph leads to a great discussion on viewing the Sun safely. As always the single best source on the web (or anywhere) for eclipse and transit information is Fred Espenak’s eclipse website at NASA. Stop by whenever you have a question on upcoming events as well as viewing and photography tips.
Tonight’s Keck lecture looks to be an interesting one, discussing the very early ages of the universe in the few million years immediately after the Big Bang. I will be there, I hope you can be there as well.
Dr. Brian Siana
How Stars Destroyed Most of the Atoms in the Universe
On Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012, Keck Observatory will be hosting a live webcast of an astronomy talk by Dr. Tom Soifer of Caltech. The title of the talk is “Seeing the Invisible Universe.” Dr. Soifer also serves as the Director of the Spitzer Science Center and is a member of the Keck Observatory Board of Directors.
The webcast begins at 7 pm Hawaiian Time, 9 pm Pacific Time (5 am GMT, Feb 10) and will be streamed from the Kahilu Theatre in Waimea-Kamuela, on the Big Island of Hawaii. Watch in the window below, or click on the UStream link.
The live webcast will play in the box below beginning at 7 pm HST / 9 pm U.S. PST, or can be found via the Keck Observatory Facebook page.
