Starry Heavens Newsletter
June 2019
Save the Date - July 20 at Hokulani Imaginarium
More information and details will be forthcoming on the website and in the July newsletter. We look forward to seeing you at the Imaginarium for the 50th Anniversary of Man's first step on the Moon.
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Ever heard of Asteroid Day??
Asteroid Day is a dynamic awareness and educational program to inspire the world about asteroids – their role in the formation of our universe, how we can use their resources, how asteroids can pave the way for future exploration and finally how we can protect our planet from asteroid impacts. Asteroid Day events are held on
30 June each year to mark the anniversary of the
1908 Tunguska impact. Asteroid Day events are largely independently organized around the world for people of all ages and are mostly free-of-charge. Asteroid Day is a program run by the Asteroid Foundation, a Luxembourg nonprofit organization.
Asteroid Day was co-founded in 2014, by
Dr. Brian May, astrophysicist and lead guitarist of QUEEN, together with Danica Remy, President of B612 Foundation, Rusty Schweickart, Apollo 9 Astronaut, and filmmaker Grig Richters. In 2016, the United Nations officially designated Asteroid Day as the international day of awareness and education about asteroids.
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So What's An Asteroid?
Asteroids are small, rocky objects that orbit the sun like planets but they are much smaller than planets. There are lots of asteroids in our solar system. Most of them exist in the main asteroid belt of our solar system, which is between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Some asteroids are found in the orbital path of planets. This means that the asteroid and the planet follow the same path around the sun. Earth and a few other planets have asteroids like this.
Asteroids are left over from the formation of our solar system, which began about 4.6 billion years ago. Basically what happened is a huge cloud of gas and dust collapsed and most of the material fell to the center of the cloud forming the sun.
Some of the dust and gas became planets. The material in the asteroid belt never formed into planets but that does not mean all asteroids are alike. For example, asteroids are not all round like planets. They have quite irregular shapes. Some are hundreds of miles in diameter, but many are as small as pebbles. Most asteroids are made of different kinds of rocks, but some contain clay and metals such as platinum or iron.
Asteroids are interesting since they formed at the same time as other objects in our solar system and can give scientists lots of information about the history of our solar system. Scientists often study asteroids by studying meteorites, which are tiny bits of asteroids that have landed on Earth. Several NASA space missions have flown by and observed asteroids. NASA space missions have also landed on asteroids and someday asteroids may be mined for special metals.
Spacecraft have been sent to several asteroids. In 2001, the Shoemaker spacecraft landed on Eros, an asteroid near Earth. In 2011 the Dawn spacecraft orbited the second largest asteroid in the asteroid belt, Vesta, which is as large as a small planet. The Dawn spacecraft also orbited the largest object in the asteroid belt, the dwarf planet, Ceres. More recently in 2016 the OSIRREx spacecraft was launched to study an asteroid near Earth named Bennu and bring back a sample to Earth.
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Reservations Suggested
Due to limited seating of 84 attendees in the Imaginarium, we recommend making reservations for our programs. Call (808) 235-7433 between 8:30am - 3:30pm, Monday - Friday. Reservation phone line is not available on weekends or holidays.
Our admission prices are:
- $8 General admission
- $7 WCC students, military, seniors (65 years or older), with ID
- $6 Children (ages 4-12 years)
- Free for children under 4 years of age (1 per paying adult), and WCC faculty or staff with university ID
- CASH & CHECK ONLY.
Please pick up and pay for reserved tickets at the Imaginarium Box Office at least 15 minutes prior to showtime. Unclaimed tickets may be sold to waiting customers on a first come, first served basis.
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As always, we welcome your feedback or questions, feel free to phone (808) 235-7350 or email to dineene@hawaii.edu. If you would like information regarding our
Adopt-a-Show sponsorship program please
click here.
Dineene O'Connor
Manager, Hōkūlani Imaginarium
Windward Community College
Hale Imiloa 135A
Office (808) 235-7350
