‘Mauna Kea Skies’ with Dr. Bower

‘Imiloa Astronomy Center’s next Mauna Kea Skies talk, “Things That Go Bump in the Night: The Violent Universe,” will be led by radio astronomer Dr. Geoffrey Bower, who represents the Submillimeter Array.

The planetarium and talk will take place on Friday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m.

During his talk, Dr. Bower will explore how even with the use of modern instruments to study supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, black holes, neutron stars, and other phenomena and their ability to provide insight into a mass array of topics from evolution of starts and the nature of matter to the evolution of the Universe itself, there is still much to be learned.

Dr. Bower is the Chief Scientist for Hawai’i Operations for the Academica Sinica Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics. He studies black holes and other energetic phenomena using radio telescopes, including the Submillimeter Array on Mauna Kea, the Very Large Array in New Mexico, and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array in Chile.

A graduate of Princeton University and UC Berkeley, Dr. Bower has previously performed his research and taught at the Max Planck Institut für Radioastronomie in Germany, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in New Mexico, and UC Berkeley.

Emily Peavy will host the Mauna Kea Skies program in the planetarium. She will provide observation highlights of the current night sky and point out prominent constellations and stars that are special to the time of year.

Tickets to the monthly talk are $8 for individual, dual, kupuna and family, $6 for patron members, and free for silver, gold and corporate members. Non-member admission is $10.

To purchase tickets ahead of time, call the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center’s front desk at 969-9703.