Message from CFHT Librarian, Liz Bryson
Aloha!! Deep Impact is highlighted in this issue of Hoku. You get one guess in the Crater Contest as to the size of the resulting crater from the impact so make it a good guess. The Skychart for its location is found in the Events Section at the end of this issue, along with an ephemeris. You must click on the date to get the most recent position for the comet. If you use a telescope or binoculars to find it, it will look like a fuzzy star and you may even see it elongated in one direction due to its tail. Enjoy!!!
We are grateful for your feedback and support of our venture. email.
Contents:
- CFHT Community Outreach
- Deep Impact - A July 4 Comet Bash
- Your First Look Inside a Comet
- Great Comet Crater Contest
- Deep Impact Facts in French
- Maune Kea Telescope Brace for Impact
- Deep Impact - Hilo
- Deep Impact - Maui
- Deep Impact - Bishop Museum
- Deep Impact - Sunset on the Beach
- Upcoming Astronomical Events
CFHT Community Outreach
April 16, 2005: Astroday went very well, we had Jim, Remi, Mercedes, Derrick, Doug, Tomo. Lovely day as usual in Prince Kuhio Plaza Hilo. Small posters were very popular!AstroDay 2005 PLUS Click on highlights to get pictures from the April 2005 AstroDay in Hilo.
Click on the picture to enlarge.
Jim mans the CFHT Display.
April 16, 2005: Waimea Keiki Fest Billy Mahoney was in charge with Moani Akana and Lisa Wells. Many visitors and a lot of interest, small posters very popular. (See jpg-email #2)
April 22, 2005: Waimea Country School's Annual Science Fair Jim Thomas and Kanoa Withington represented CFHT at the science fair.
May 4, 2005: VIP tour of the summit Loic Albert took care of the VIP auction winners, visit of the summit for 4 people.
May 7, 2005: CFHT public lecture at the Onizuka Visitor Center: Liz Bryson gave a talk at the visitor center on CFHT's Oral History Project.
May 27, 2005: CFHT HQ tour Remi Cabanac made a tour + talk for a group of 75 Paauilo kindergarten, first and second graders.
June 2, 2005L CFHT HQ tour Remi Cabanac made a tour+talk for a group of Waimea Ho'okupono special program. 7 students+chaperones. 14-17 years old
June 22, 2005: National Oceanographis Science Bowl winners visit of the summit, O. Lai will take care of that.
June 27, 2005: CFHT HQ visit of Hilo High-school students with John Hamilton. Jean-Charles Cuillandre is in charge.
Upcoming Events
June 28, 2005: CFHT HQ visit of students with Clyde Case WMS.
July 3, 2005: Deep Impact, we won't organize anything, but will participate via video conf (Gary Fujihara at IfA in charge), and prepare images for the public shows.
Early August Star Party will be open to the public.
August 28th, 2005: Waimea Festival
Deep Impact Event - July 3rd, 2005
Click on Logo for larger readable image.
A July 4 Comet Bash
Have a wish for the USA's birthday this year? If you're a ground-based astronomer in Arizona and states west through Hawaii, you'll wish for clear, dark skies in early July.
It's your chance to watch what happens when NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft slams its 820-pound copper probe into comet Tempel 1 at 23,000 mph.
The impact is expected at 10:52 p.m. MST Sunday, July 3. The mothership will fly next to the comet to document the fireworks, and several major NASA space telescopes -- Hubble, Spitzer, Chandra -- will witness the result. Big telescopes in Hawaii and major observatories in California and Arizona will be watching from 83 million miles away, too.
The Deep Impact mission goal is to blast a crater for a first-ever look inside a comet, which is made of the same stuff that made up our solar system billions of years ago, before the planets formed. Scientists hope to learn a lot from the small comet, which is only about 8.7 miles long and 2.5 miles wide. No one knows what will happen on impact.
"We expect to be surprised," said University of Arizona Regents Professor H. Jay Melosh, a member of the Deep Impact science team. "We don't know what the comet's surface is like. We could hit something as hard as concrete or as soft as cornflakes."
From Lori Stiles, UA News Services, 520-621-1877
Your First Look Inside a Comet
Beginner's Guide to Experiencing the Thrill of Your First Look Inside a Comet!So, you don't know what a comet is, much less how to find and observe one in the night sky! This guide will walk you through the basics. You can do the sections in any order, but if it's the first time you're reading it, it will probably make more sense to go through them in order.
Great Comet Crater Contest
Will the impactor sink right in to the fluffy comet and leave hardly any mark, or will it slam into a solid surface and dig out a classical crater?
Deep Impact Facts in French
Vous parlez francais? Allez jeter un coup d'oeil a notre fiche resumee en francais de Deep Impact. In other words, read about the Deep Impact mission in the French language.
Mauna Kea Telescopes Brace for Impact
Mauna Kea, and all of Hawaii, will have a front row seat during the impact. NASA's decision for the timing of the impact was partially determined by the location of Earth-bound telescopes and their ability to observe the event. Mauna Kea, with the world's best collection of giant telescopes, will be ready to observe the event with a wide array of instruments when the impact occurs near the end of evening twilight.The public may participate in several Deep Impact events, all of which are free and open to the public:
- Saturday, July 2nd, 6:00 p.m., Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station: Public Lecture, "Cracking the Shell - What Might the Inside of a Comet Look Like?" Stargazing of Comet Tempel 1 to follow afterwards. (808) 961-2180
- Sunday, July 3rd, 7:00 p.m., M W. M. Keck Observatory Headquarters in Waimea: Public may eavesdrop on observing and share the evening with professional and amateur astronomers. (808) 885 7887.
- Sunday, July 3rd, 6:30 p.m. University of Hawaii at Hilo, UCB 100: A panel of speakers will give mini-presentations and provide commentary on near images from the NASA Deep Impact spacecraft and a telescope on Mauna Kea. (808) 932-2328.
- Sunday, July 3rd, 6:00 p.m. Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station: Stargazing with 16-inch, 14-inch and several smaller telescopes. (808) 961-2180.
Deep Impact - Hilo
UH Institute for Astronomy Director Rolf-Peter Kudritzki will open the program at 6:00 pm on Sunday, July 3rd in the UH Hilo UCB 100. We will have NASA Discovery Program Manager Todd May, NASA OSS Outreach Manager Shari Asplund, UHH astronomy professor Richard Crowe and Subaru Telescope astronomer Cathy Ishida on a discussion panel that will give a running commentary on events as they unfold throughout the evening.We will hold video conferences with astronomers at most of the observatories on Mauna Kea, including Gemini, NASA IRTF, UH88, JCMT, CFHT, SMA and CSO before and after the actual impact event, scheduled for 7:52 pm.
Near real-time images of Comet Tempel 1 will be displayed from telescopes on Mauna Kea, Haleakala and even the Deep Impact spacecraft.
Contact: Gary Fujihara at (808) 932-2328
Deep Impact - Maui
This is to alert you to the various activities connected with the Deep Impact Mission being offered on the Islands of Hawaii, Maui and Oahu and to encourage your participation. These events are open to the public; there is a $3 per person admission charge for the Bishop Museum eventStarting at 6:30 pm on July 3rd at the Maui Community College Ka Lama Room 103 (auditorium), Sharon Price, Kalaheo High School teacher will host a multimedia event with the support of Pacific Rim Productions, who are donating the use of several large plasma displays and video switching equipment. Joining Sharon will be NASA Payload Mission Specialist Mike Martin, IfA astronomers Shadia Habbal and Jonathan Williams and Maui astronomer James Armstrong, who will be offering a running commentary on events as they happen throughout the course of the evening.
Near real-time images will be shared with the public from the Faulkes Telescope, and from other observatories in Hawaii, while the Haleakala Amateur Astronomers offer views of the comet and other wonders of the universe through their telescopes that will be set up on the courtyard near Ka Lama Buiiding.
Contact: Gary Fujihara at (808) 932-2328
Deep Impact - Bishop Museum
The University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy teams up with Bishop Museum and the Hawaiian Astronomical Society in having a "Comet Collision Countdown" starting Sunday evening, July 3rd, at 5:30 pm on the museum grounds. The museum will offer planetarium shows, a reptile exhibit and fun space activities for the whole family.UH Institute for Astronomy (IfA) astronomers Toby Owen, Gareth Wynn-Williams, Jeff Morgan and Mark Willman will give presentations on comets, a background on the Deep Impact mission, and searching for new Earths.
Several IfA faculty and students will be on the lawn with members of the Hawaiian Astronomical Society, giving views of the comet and offering commentary on events as the unravel throughout the evening.
Contact: Carolyn Kaichi at 847-8203
Deep Impact - Sunset on the Beach
The regular "Sunset on the Beach" program from Waikiki Beach will feature a Deep Impact event overview by UH Institute for Astronomy researcher Robert Joseph, followed by a live feed from NASA TV just before the encounter of the Deep Impact spacecraft probe and Comet Tempel 1.The movie, "The Dish" will begin at 8:00 pm, but may be interrupted for updates as events unfold.
Deep Impact - Sunset on the Beach
Contact: Mona Wood at 218-5546
Upcoming Astronomical Events
- Comets - Yes this July 3rd, a probe will be sent to impact the surface of Comet Temple 1. There are many events going on around the Islands so that this event may be shared with the general public. See all the websites above.
9P/Temple 1 Skychart You must click on the 26th or the 3rd for the current sky charts on this page.
- Meteor Showers - Don't forget to watch the spectacular Perseid meteor shower on the morning of August 12th. Best viewing time is Midnight to Sunrise with the peak occuring at Midnight on the 12th. Predictions are 90 meteors per hour. The moon will be close to first quarter in the evening sky so it will set early and you should have nice dark sky for viewing. It is best to bring along a sky chart to identify the constellations in this case Perseus and then look in that direction. The delta-Aquarid meteor shower will be at its peak in late July the mornings of the 27th and 28th. This predicts only 20 meteors per hour. The moon will be much brighter however, so viewing will be difficult in the morning hours. See the August 2001 issue of Hoku in the archive to learn more about watching meteor showers.
- Planets - The earth is at aphelion on July 4th with distance to the Sun 152,102,400 kilometers (94,511,868.28 miles). Mercury will be very close to Venus on the evening of July 6th. The full moon will be on Thursday morning, July 21st and it will be the largest full moon of 2005 due to its distance. Look for large tides around this date. Look for Venus close to the Moon in the evening on August 7th. The moon will be only another 240 kilometers farther away than in July in August on the 19th. Again, expect high tides.
All times listed above are HST. The link below contains many calendars and includes a nice section on astronomical events. Check it out!!
We gratefully acknowledge the following online sources: Yahoo's Search Engine, Blue Web'N, and the Librarian's Index to the Internet.This page is compiled by Liz Bryson, CFHT Librarian
This page was designed by Lisa Wells, CFHT Observing Assistant
We appreciate your comments and questions.
