Starry Heavens Newsletter
October 2015
Halloween at the Imaginarium!
Back by popular demand, Windward Community College’s
Haunted Village at the Hokulani Imaginarium returns this year on Friday, October 30 from 6:00pm - 8:30pm. The popular event is a fun and safe Halloween night for the whole family with many exciting activities, highlighted by a “Nightwalk” Imaginarium show.
Admission to the Haunted Village and most of the activities are free. Tickets for the “Nightwalk”show are specially priced at $3 a “head”, and will be sold at the box office on the night of the event.
No reservations; come in costume and have a great time!
“NIGHTWALK” IMAGINARIUM SHOW
The15-minute virtual tour of a haunted graveyard is generated by the 3D animated magic of the Imaginarium. Audiences will be guided through a creepy crypt and into a haunted mansion filled with bats, ghosts and spooky things that go BOO! in the night. Presented every 20 minutes between 6:00-8:00pm.
Other activities in the Haunted Village include the
Dr. Phrankenstein's Phantom Physics Lab, face painting, costume contest, spooky stories and movie clips, fighting medieval knights, pumpkin carving displays,
and more! Food and snacks are also available for purchase.
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Water, water everywhere?
If the planets were characters in the old tv program, The Brady Bunch, I can imagine them saying, "Mars, Mars, Mars!", as a lot of attention has been focused on our neighboring planet recently. Between the new blockbuster movie, The Martian, and NASA'S announcement of
flowing water on Mars, it almost seems as if the planet is now the"Marcia Brady" of planets.
And for some very good reasons. The presence of liquid water is tantalizing, especially on Mars, because the planet is just on the edge of the "Goldilocks Zone"--the region in the solar system defined by scientists as, "not too hot or too cold"--the region that could potentially support life.
Finding evidence of microbial life would be amazing in itself. But water is also important for human exploration of the solar system. Water would support human life off our home planet and would also be essential to travel the distances to get to our planetary neighbors and back again.
However, other recent discoveries have shown that water may flow in the far reaches outside the Zone. The Cassini spacecraft, orbiting Saturn and its moons, has produced evidence that suggests that a global ocean exists under the
icy crust of Enceladus, one of Saturn's 62 moons. Even at its average distance of 886 million miles from the sun, the ocean is kept liquid by geological activity, although the reason for that activity is still being studied.
Another current announcement from the New Horizons mission finds features formed by
water activity at Pluto's moon Charon. Features on this distant moon point to a process called
cryovolcanism, or water-based lava.
Pluto and Charon orbit in a vast area known as the Kuiper Belt, where the icy Dwarf Planets and a countless number of comets swarm. Comets are also known as "dirty snowballs", because they are comprised of rocks, frozen water and organic compounds. Scientists believe that comets may have seeded essential elements and organic compounds throughout solar system billions of years ago.
So while the attention is focused Mars right now, this is just one step in a long process of discovery and exploration of our planetary neighborhood!
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Aloha and Mahalo
Unfortunately, this is my last newsletter for the Imaginarium. I am moving on to another opportunity but will continue my pursuits in astronomy education. Mahalo for the privilege of working with the wonderful faculty, staff and students of Windward Community College and I will miss everything about this institution and surrounding community. Please continue to support us with your interest in astronomy and the night sky!
Aloha,
Carolyn Kaichi, Imaginarium Manager
(808) 235-7350
kaichic@hawaii.edu
October Schedule
The new schedule from August 2015 through January 2016 is now online! This month's dates and times are below, but more information on programs and updates to our schedule are posted on our
website or our
Facebook page.
Wednesday, Oct. 14 – 7:00pm
Stargazing (Live program in the Imaginarium with Krissie Kellogg.)
Call (808) 235-7433 for reservations.
SPECIAL EVENT:
Haunted Village, 6:00pm - 8:30pm
$3 Special Price for Imaginarium show
No Reservations taken for Haunted Village programs.
You may find more details regarding these programs on our
website, or call the Imaginarium office at (808) 235-7350.
Or follow Imaginarium news via
our Facebook posts.
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As always, we welcome your feedback or questions, or if you would like more information regarding our
Adopt-a-Show sponsorship. Please feel free to phone or e-mail us at the contacts provided at the end of this newsletter.
Reservations
Due to limited seating, we recommend making reservations for our programs.
Call (808) 235-7433 between 8am-4pm, Monday-Friday.
(Reservation phone line is not available on weekends.)
CASH & CHECK ONLY An ATM is located on campus behind the Imaginarium building, next to The Hub coffeeshop.
Please arrive at the Imaginarium at least 30 minutes before showtime. Reserved tickets must be picked up at the Imaginarium box office
at least 15 minutes prior to start of program. Unclaimed tickets are released for sale to walk-in customers on a first come, first served basis.
