May the 4th be with you ✨ Join @MaunakeaObservatories and UH Institute for Astronomy for AstroDay on Star Wars Day at the mall in Hilo. If you feel so compelled by the Force, come in your Star Wars costume, attire, or gear. Learn all about the exciting astronomical discoveries and cosmic detective…

It’s an outdoor living classroom serving students for nearly two decades 🌱 At Mālaʻai Garden, the culinary garden at Waimea Middle School, students connect with ‘āina, culture, and community while learning how to grow, harvest, and cook 'ono food. Recently, Keckies volunteered…

Phenomenon Friday 🎆 I’m the rate at which the universe is expanding, named after an astronomer who in 1929 found that the farther a galaxy was, the faster it appeared to be moving away from Earth. This expansion rate is observed at the same speed no matter where you are in the…

Tomorrow! Mahalo and celebrate organizations that have made valuable contributions to the community by perpetuating the culture, traditions, and heritage of Waimea. Enjoy food, music, and hula. You’ll also learn how you can get involved with the Waimea Community Weaving Hui to…

Missed the Lyrids? No worries, check out this time-lapse video of the Lyrid Meteor Shower peak as Keck Observatory and Subaru Telescope Eng beam adaptive optics lasers into the night sky during last night’s observing run. Mahalo to Keckie Observing Assistant Matt Wahl, who took this…

Happy Earth Day! We celebrate today by spotlighting the “rainforests of the sea” - coral reefs. They only make up ~1% of the ocean floor but house ~25% of marine life in the world. To help keep Hawaiʻi’s reefs healthy, Ocean Defenders Alliance Hawaiʻi recently organized a team of…

Today is #EarthDay , but we can care for the ʻāina any day of the year 🌱 Among the many ways to do so? Volunteer for the University of Hawaiʻi Center for Maunakea Stewardship’s regular community weed pulls to remove invasive weeds on Maunakea and protect native plants. At the…

LOOK UP: The Lyrid Meteor Shower is predicted to peak tonight, with about 10 to 15 shooting stars per hour. They are pieces of debris from Comet Thatcher, which makes a full orbit around the Sun every 415 years. The nearly full moon will make it challenging to see the Lyrids;…

LOOK UP: This weekend, catch Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks aka the ‘Devil Comet’ as it makes its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion), appearing at its brightest on Sunday, April 21. Why the nickname? In July 2023, this green ball of ice had a large outburst, making the shell of gas…

Phenomenon Friday 🎆 I am a range of energy - from light you can see, to light human eyes can’t see. Visible light consists of the colors of the rainbow, with each one having a different wavelength and frequency; invisible light includes other types of energy (radiation) like…

Phenomenon Friday 🎆 There’s normal (“baryonic”) matter, and then there’s me. Because I’m invisible, emitting no light or energy, I am a mystery - no one knows what I am made of. But scientists infer I exist based on the gravitational effect I appear to have on visible matter,…

Check out the solar eclipse as captured by Keckies this morning 🤩 Enjoy these shots from several of our employees who witnessed this amazing celestial show first-hand, from here in Hawaiʻi to various locations around the U.S.:
1. Eduardo Marin from Waimea, Hawai‘i Island
2.…

LOOK UP: With safety solar eclipse glasses only! Early tomorrow morning Hawaiʻi time, parts of Mexico and North America will have the opportunity to experience totality as the Moon moves between the Earth and the Sun, blocking sunlight. From Hawaiʻi, we’ll only see a partial…

Phenomenon Friday 🎆 I’m one of the biggest mysteries in physics, an “anti-gravity” force that could explain why the universe is expanding at an accelerated rate. No one knows exactly what I am, other than the effect my energy has on the universe. Scientists estimate I make up…

Join us for an astronomy talk at Kahilu in Waimea starring Dr. Nadia Drake, a science journalist who’s written for National Geographic, New York Times, Scientific American and more. She will discuss the Drake Equation – a formula for calculating the probability of detectable…

On this day in 1976, astronomer Sir Patrick Moore made an announcement on BBC Radio 2 that made people jump. He told listeners that Jupiter and Pluto would align in a way that would temporarily reduce Earth’s gravity, and if folks jumped at exactly 9:47 a.m., they’d experience a…

EVENT: Save the date! 🗓️

Dr. Nadia Drake #keckobservatory #maunakeaobservatories #hawaiiastronomy

Phenomenon Friday 🎆 I’m a large web-like structure consisting of filaments of gas that connect galaxies. My wispy strands appear to supply galaxies with the gas they need to create stars. I snake my way across the darkest parts of space, so I am extremely difficult to detect…

Spotted from Hawaiʻi: A tiny, ancient star system orbiting our galaxy - the faintest, lowest-mass Milky Way satellite ever discovered and possibly one of the most dark matter-dominated systems known. Data from two Maunakea Observatories - W. M. Keck Observatory and CFHT – plus the…