Second Update From Hawaii
Last Wednesday, Sean and I were supposed to venture up Mauna Kea (a massive mountain soaring over 13,000 feet) up to the observatories. But sadly, as we’d feared, the road was closed due to snow. Yes, snow in Hawaii. To have come halfway around the world to an island in the middle of the Pacific ocean, and not have the opportunity to gaze upon the telescopes that capture the universe in initimate detail…yes, we were disappointed.
But we carried on. Thursday Sean helped again with Astronomy outreach at the local elementary schools, and on Friday, he gave two talks to high school kids about the One Week Job project. He was unsure as the kids filed into the library that morning, wondering if he would be able to fill the full 60 minutes with weighty lessons and colourful anecdotes. Turns out, he could – although the first talk came across as non-committal. Sean was a bit reserved, and the kids interested, but impassive.
The second talk was much better, as Sean seemed to hit his stride (and by that time the new class was more awake). Two teachers in the back nodded their heads to every point he made, and Sean was able to convey more of the excitement of the project – which in turn engaged the kids. I foresee these talks are the first of many in Sean’s career.
Friday afternoon, lo and behold, the Mauna Kea mountain cleared enough for us to tackle the summit. We loaded into a rugged SUV, Kenyan (our local guide and fellow astronomy teacher), Tammy (our host for the week), Sean and myself – and soon we were bouncing past acres of volcanic rock, shifting rain showers, until finally views appeared that would make Zeus weep.
Snow blanketed the summit, the road, and the massive outer domes of the telescopes. A fresh flurry fell from the sky as we hopped out of the SUV and into one of the telescope buildings (I can’t remember which one). We learned how much astronomy work isn’t actually spent gazing at the “pretty pictures” of stars, galaxies and nebulia – those are for lay people.
Astromers actually study mounds of data gathered from the telescopes, so they can analyze it, process it, mix it, shake and bake it, until they learn more about the history of the universe and life’s ultimate question: why are we here? Heavy stuff.
And just like that, Sean’s week as an Astromer was over.
On Sat, we drove a rental car around the northern edge of the Big Island, passing lush rainforest, and waterfalls that seemingly spout from the rock before dashing into the ocean. By mid-afternoon, we’d arrived in Kona – the hot spot for tourists and black sand beaches.
We sat on the sand and watched the sunset melt into the waves, a full 8 minutes after the light had actually left the sun. (Random fact from this week: the rays of sun that you see with your eyes take approximately 8 minutes to travel through space and hit the Earth).
Here’s all the photos from that week - near the end you can see some at the Mauna Kea observatory
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39533439@N00/sets/72157603850312912/
This past week we’ve spent at the Volcanoes National Park - Sean was a Ranger for the week. I’ll try to send an update on that in the next few days. In the meantime, check out the Park Ranger photos here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39533439@N00/sets/72157603892762194/
Until next time…
