The monthly planetarium presentations are held on the third Saturday of each month. Admission is $5 for ‘Imiloa members and $8 for others. Get tickets aat the front desk or by phone at 969-9704.
“Metals in the Universe” will be the next Mauna Kea Skies topic at 7 p.m. Saturday at ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center. Join Daniel Devost of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), as he discusses how the measured evolution of the amount of metals can be used as a test for cosmological models and help us get a better understanding of our universe.
Astronomers define metals as being all elements other than hydrogen and helium. Metals are found everywhere in the universe and are an essential component for life. Techniques using professional telescopes can be used to determine the amount of metals in the sun and in meteorites.
The amount of metals throughout the Milky Way can also be determined using stars, planetary nebulae or other objects. In the far reaches of the universe, abundance determination becomes more difficult but can be done using other galaxies.
Daniel Devost has been director of science operations at the CFHT since 2008 and resident astronomer since 2007. He came to CFHT from Cornell, where he worked on the Infrared Spectrograph, one of the instruments on the Spitzer space telescope. Devost earned his Ph.D. in 2004 from the Universite Laval in Quebec City, Canada.
The program will be hosted by Shawn Laatsch, ‘Imiloa’s planetarium manager. After the guest speaker’s featured presentation, he will provide observational highlights of the current night sky over Hawaii, pointing out prominent constellations and stars one can see during this time of year.
The monthly planetarium presentations are held on the third Saturday of each month. Admission is $5 for ‘Imiloa members and $8 for others. Get tickets aat the front desk or by phone at 969-9704.