Astronomy

Much like seismic waves reveal Earth’s inner layers, these stellar vibrations gave scientists a rare glimpse beneath the star’s surface.

Robo-AO-2 is designed to correct the blur caused by Earth’s atmosphere, sharpening images of hundreds of objects each night with minimal human oversight.

Gaseous pillars and a sparkling star cluster, reminiscent of rain in ʻōhiʻa forests, featured in the image from Gemini North telescope atop Mauna Kea on the Big Island.

Hawaiʻi Island Mayor Kimo Alameda expressed support for the telescope being built on the site of a former telescope believing it could meet the criteria of the Kū Kiaʻi Mauna (Guardians of the Mountain).

The Spooky Season is behind us, Big Island, which means it’s beg … Oh. Nope. Not going there yet. Get those bodies up and going, friends and neighbors. Let’s enjoy as much as we can with as many loved ones as possible to make as many special memories our own brains can hold. Check out the top things to do now!

With Halloween just one day of this week’s top 10, we wanted to make sure all of our space wasn’t taken up by haunting happenings. But as the universe would have it, there is some Halloween bleeding over into the weekend.

A photonic lantern allows astronomers to see deeper into space than ever before using a single telescope.

Join the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority for a “Talk Story” event in Hilo on Sept. 24, to contribute to shaping the future of Hawaiʻi’s treasured landscapes through community feedback and dialogue.

“Futures in Space” — which opened July 28 at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington — features two launchpad pavers and an interlocking brick made of sintered Hawaiian basalt and developed by Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems.

Labor Day Weekend is upon us, Big Island, so get out and celebrate the long weekend — and extra time off work — by attending, participating in or watching one or more of the multitude of events happening around the Big Island. Check out this week’s top 10 things to do now!

Rare stellar blast discovery — made possible by spectral data captured by Keck Observatory at the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island — reveals a heavy-element core, challenging theories of how massive stars live and die.

The Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority was established by law in 2022 to develop a new mutual stewardship model for Hawaiʻi’s revered summit in which ecology, the environment, natural resources, cultural practices, education and science are in balance.

New research using Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array observations together with data from NASA Infrared Telescope Facility atop Mauna Kea show water in Halley-type comet 12P/Pons-Brooks matches that in Earth’s oceans, strengthening theory that comets helped make our planet habitable.

The newly identified object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, is suspected to be a comet and should show increasing activity as it gets closer to the sun, but it will never get warm enough to be seen by the naked eye. And it poses no risk of hitting Earth.

University of Hawaiʻi’s 2.2-meter (88 inch) telescope on Maunakea was recognized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Milestone program for its role in shaping astronomical research worldwide.

It will be the third Mauna Kea observatory decommissioned under the university’s Maunakea Comprehensive Management Plan, following Caltech Submillimeter Observatory and University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo’s Hōkū Keʻa Observatory, both completed in 2024.

A team at the Institute for Astronomy uncovered rare events when massive stars at least three times the mass of the Sun are shredded by supermassive black holes. 

At age 48, UH Hilo student Raven Kromer will be interning at NASA to study the icy terrain of Jupiter’s moon Europa, hoping to find insights into the potential for life beyond Earth.

It’s a Memorial Day Weekend full of culture and remembrance on the Big Island. There’s a comedy show, guacamole contest and even a showing of the silent movie that started it all at the Palace Theater in downtown Hilo 100 years ago coming up this week, too. Check out the top 10 now!

Stars are not silent, and like musical instruments, stars resonate with natural frequencies that astronomers can “hear” with the right tools. Asteroseismology allows scientists to use these frequencies to probe the interiors of stars.