Aloha! Enjoy!

We had several close passes near earth by some asteroids so we are highlighting thees objects, and planet impacts. Since Chemistry is used so widely in so many of the earth sciences, including astronomy, there is a great site which will help with learning chemistry. We are grateful for your feedback and support of our venture. Feel free to send an email.

Contents:

• CFHT Community Outreach
• CFHT News
• GRAIL: Gravity Recovery & Interior Laboratory
• Planet Impact!
• Asteroids Passing Near Earth
• Creative Chemistry
• The Inspire Project
• Upcoming Astronomical Events

Recent Past Events

September 22th, 2012: This was "Observe the Moon" night. We had telescopes set up at our Waimea offices and were able to observe the moon in the evening after sunset. Many local schools were contacted. There were activities set up inside as well for people to get warm.

September 29th, 2012: CFHT and Keck hosted the Solar System Walk along the Mamalahoa Highway. Booths were set up for each planet and children collecting stamps from all the booths received lunch at the end of the walk. The walk began at the Keck Observatory headquarters and went west down Mamalahoa Highway to the CFHT headquarters. We had a wonderful sunny day and many families and classes took part. We will be hosting this again next year we hope so come by and learn a little something about our solar system. Click on a picture below to enlarge it.

December 1, 2012: CFHT hosted its star party after the Christmas parade on the lawn just in front of the headquarters in Waimea. Weather was wonderful for viewing the night sky, and other demonstrations inside including an ask an astronomer booth, a movie and tours of the remote oberving room where observtions were being done with our telescope at the summit. A new feature was a bonfire where kids roasted marshmallows along with other refreshments like coffee, hot chocolate, and cookies. Click on a picture below to enlarge it.

Upcoming Events

January 26th, 2013: This is Astronaut Ellison Onizuka Science Day which will be held at the University of Hawaii, Hilo from 8am to 3:15pm. There are many workshops offered for the kids to attend and enjoy. CFHT will have our telescope set up with the solar filter for sun viewing and perhaps the sunspotter will be used also, weather permitting. Check the link below for more information and registration.

Onizuka Day

January 26 - March 15, 2013 (DEADLINE): The Mauna Kea Astronomy Outreach Committee announces the opening of the Mauna Kea Coin Contest 2013. The 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place winners in the three catagories will compete for the grand prize. The grand prize design will be struck on coins to be given out at AstroDay on May 4th at Prince Kuhio Plaza, Hilo and at other events. The link below contains the purpose of the contest, official rules and regulations, and submission information. This is a great class assignment to get students thinking of the Hawaiian connection to Astronomy, get their artistic ideas flowing, and have your students do presentations to the class explaining their designs.

Mauna Kea Coin Contest

February 15-22, 2013: The Hawaii Science and Engineering fair will be held at the University of Hawaii, Hilo campus. When I have a website it will be added here.

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Green Bean Galaxies

Exoplanet Search

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Here is the website about the GRAIL mission to the moon which mapped the surface thickness of the moon's crust, and later was sent smashing into the lunar surface. This site has some nice videos and information about the moon.

NASA's GRAIL Wetsite

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This website is great for teaching kids about orbital motion, impact angles, and mass in a 2 body problem. It comes complete with lesson plans and teaching tips.

Planet Impact!

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Here are several sites which highlight several close encounters we will have in the coming months. You need not be afraid, these close encounters will not be impacting earth or our day to day lives. A good exercise would be to have your students come up with some ways to deflect or destroy an asteroid on a collision course with earth.

Asteroid 2012 DA14

Asteroid Apophis

Deflecting Killer Asteroids

Deflecting an Asteroid

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Creative chemistry is a site which has many fun chemistry puzzles, interactive quizzes, and molecular models. Chemistry is used is so many fields of study including Biology, Physics, Astronomy, Geology, and Materials Science. I hope you and your kids have fun with this website.

Creative Chemistry

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Here is a wonderful site about the science camps held in Huntsville, Alabama, every summer for kids to learn more about space exploration. If you have any students that are interested in space exploration, this would be a nice option.

The Inspire Project

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1. Eclipses - Unfortunately the lunar eclipse on April 25th will only be visible from Europe, Africa, Middle East, and parts of Asia Australia and South America. Hawaii will have good viewing of the annular solar eclipse on May 10th though we will only be 41-50% coverage of the sun. This will be highlighted in the next issue of Hoku.
2. Meteor Showers - We have the Quandratid meteor shower peaking on January 3rd in the early morning hours. Predictions are for 120 per hour but the moon will be bright in the morning. Best to find a dark site, and watch toward the constellation Bootes. Watch for the April-Lyrids peaking on April 22th. The moon will be just before full so the best viewing will be the last few hours of the morning before sunrise. Predictions are for only about 20 per hour. All these meteor showers are best viewed from midnight to sunrise. Meteors should be visible for 1-3 days either side of the peak also. For more about watching meteor showers, check out the site for The American Meteor Society.
3. Comets - Here is a great website about a possible spectacular event for later this year. Comet ISON video. There are several challenging objects to find in the sky so check out updates at the Sky Hound site: Comet Chasing. On March 4th, C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) could make a bright showing so keep your eye on that one. Look for a new object 2012 S1 (ISON) to put on a show in the fall as it approaches the sun. You will need binoculars or a small telescope to see many of these objects.
4. Planets - Look for Saturn a few degrees away from the moon in the morning on February 3rd. Look for Mercury close to the moon at sunrise on February 8th. Jupiter will be close to the moon on the evening of February 17th. We may have a fleeting glimpse of the moon occulting Spica on the evening of February 28th around 9pm HST. Look for Jupiter close to the moon on the evening of March 17th. There will be 3 double shadow transits on Jupiter, on March 8th just after 10pm, on March 15th close to midnight, and on the morning of March 23rd at 4:49am. Look for Jupiter close to the moon in the morning before sunrise on April 14th.
5. Equinox - The spring equinox will occur on March 20th at 1:02am.

All times listed above are HST unless otherwise indicated. The link below contains many calendars and includes a nice section on astronomical events. Check it out!

Calendars

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