Celebrating 17 Years in Hawaiʻi Island Classrooms

March 4, 2021

This year’s virtual Journey Through the Universe program, running from 1 to 5 March 2021, is nearing completion with stunning results. Owing to the pandemic, the event took place entirely online for the first time to limit the risk to educators and participants. Together with about 50 local and national partners and collaborators, NSF’s NOIRLab leads this annual program.

By the end of the week, the Journey astronomy educators will have reached almost 6000 students in almost 300 virtual classrooms across Hawai‘i who are introduced to the wonders of the Universe and the possibilities of a career in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields.

On Monday, the Hawai‘i Island Chamber of Commerce and Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry virtual reception was attended by around 60 members of our local community, demonstrating the strong support from the region for Journey.

Wednesday’s public talk by Lars Lindberg Christensen entitled Exciting Revolution Ahead for Ground-Based Astronomy, and hosted by local radio celebrity, Darrin “DC” Carlson, attracted over 75 members of the public, many of whom stayed for live virtual stargazing after the event.

This is the 17th consecutive year of Journey Through the Universe. More details of the program can be found in the 2021 Journey Through the Universe press release on the NOIRLab website, as well as in the B-roll video for broadcasters.

Journalists can request interviews with contacts on the press release.