Press Releases
CRITICAL OBSERVATION MADE ON MAUNAKEA DURING FIRST NIGHT OF RETURN TO OPERATIONS
The existing astronomical observatories on Maunakea returned to operations this weekend, and it didn't take long for a significant result to be achieved, not only for science, but for assuring the safety of the Earth. Observations of the near-Earth asteroid 2006 QV89...
Astronomers to deploy breakthrough technology at UH telescope
The National Science Foundation has awarded a $1.1 million grant to a University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa Institute for Astronomy (IfA) scientist to install a high-tech shape-shifting secondary mirror on the UH 2.2-meter telescope on Maunakea.
NASA awards grants to 3 UH grad students
NASA awarded three graduate students at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with $45,000 grants annually for up to three years for their contributions toward reaching science, technology and exploration goals. Honored by the Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space...
ASTRONOMERS MAP VAST VOID IN OUR COSMIC NEIGHBORHOOD
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 22 JULY 2019 Contacts: Dr. Brent Tully tully@ifa.hawaii.edu Office +1 808-956-8606 Dr. Roy Gal Media Contact +1 808-956-6235 cell: +1 808-388-8690 roygal@hawaii.edu A smoothed rendition of the structure surrounding the Local Void. Our...
NASA contract awarded to UH Institute for Astronomy for observatory management
NASA has awarded a contract to the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy to continue to manage and operate the agency’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Maunakea. The potential value of the contract is approximately $30 million. About 30 IfA researchers and staff based in Hilo and Honolulu are involved in supporting the IRTF, which started operations 40 years ago this month.
ʻOumuamua is Not an Alien Spacecraft
An international team of asteroid and comet experts, including two from the University of Hawaiʻi, agrees on a natural origin for our first interstellar visitor.
Breakthrough: UH team successfully locates incoming asteroid
For the first time, astronomers at the University of Hawaiʻi have demonstrated that their ATLAS and Pan-STARRS survey telescopes can provide sufficient warning to move people away from the impact site of an incoming asteroid. They detected a small asteroid prior to its entering the Earth’s atmosphere near Puerto Rico on the morning of June 22, 2019.
TMT receives notice to proceed from the state
Gov. David Ige announced that the state Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) issued a notice to proceed (NTP) to the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project on Maunakea on Hawaiʻi Island.
UH astronomer earns national award for solar research
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded an assistant astronomer at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Institute for Astronomy one of its most prestigious awards for junior faculty. Xudong Sun received a $620,590 grant for a five-year term from the NSF Faculty Early Career Development program. The award is bestowed on teacher-scholars pursuing cutting-edge research while simultaneously advancing excellence in education.
Scientists Fill Out A Circumbinary Planetary System
A team of astronomers, including Nader Haghighipour from the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, have discovered a third planet in the circumbinary planetary system Kepler-47. This discovery cements the system’s title as the most interesting of the binary-star worlds, and marks the first complete and dynamically full planetary system around a binary star.
Hawaiʻi Team Catches Asteroid As It Self-Destructs
Astronomers once thought asteroids were boring, wayward space rocks that simply orbit around the Sun. New observations are turning these ideas on their heads, showing that asteroids are anything but dull. Asteroid Gault, discovered in 1998, has begun to slowly disintegrate. The crumbling was first detected on Jan. 5, 2019 by the IfA’s ATLAS telescopes on Maunaloa and Haleakalā. Spectacular images of asteroid 6478 Gault from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope show two narrow, comet-like tails of debris streaming from the diminutive 2.5-mile-wide asteroid.
University of Hawaiʻi Astronomer Awarded Prestigious Sloan Foundation Fellowship
Daniel Huber, an Assistant Astronomer at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Institute for Astronomy (IfA), has been selected for a prestigious 2019 Sloan Research Fellowship, one of 126 recipients across the U.S. and Canada.Awarded annually since 1955, the...
World’s largest digital sky survey issues biggest astronomical data release ever
This image is a mosaic of sky photographs taken by the Pan-STARRS Observatory, a 1.8-meter telescope located at the summit of Haleakalā, on Maui. The center of the circle is the north celestial pole, and the outer edge is a sky declination of -30 degrees — the...
Astronomer Receives American Astronomical Society’s Highest Award
Ann Merchant Boesgaard, Professor of Astronomy, Emerita at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy (IfA), has been awarded the 2019 Henry Norris Russell Lectureship by the American Astronomical Society (AAS). The Russell Prize is the AAS’ highest award, and is bestowed annually on the basis of a lifetime of eminence in astronomical research.
Discovered: The Most-Distant Solar System Object Ever Observed
A team of astronomers has discovered the most distant body ever observed in our solar system. It is the first known solar system object that has been detected at a distance that is more than 100 times farther than Earth is from the Sun.
The new object was announced on Monday, December 17, 2018, by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center and has been given the provisional designation 2018 VG18. The discovery was made by Carnegie Observaties’ Scott S. Sheppard, the University of Hawaiiʻs David Tholen, and Northern Arizona University’s Chad Trujillo.
Newly discovered supernova may rewrite exploding star origin theories
A supernova discovered by an international group of astronomers has provided an unprecedented look at the first moments of a violent stellar explosion.
WAIPAHU HS STUDENT, MAUNAKEA SCHOLAR STUDIES STAR WARS PLANET
The Star Wars universe turned from science fiction to science fact for a Waipahu High School student, who observed a real-life "Tatooine" using one of the largest, most scientifically-impactful observatories in the world. UH Press Release
Maunakea Visitor Information Station begins improvements; stargazing and operating hours impacted
University of Hawaiʻi Contact: Daniel Meisenzahl, (808) 348-4936 UH Spokesman, UH Communications The Maunakea Visitor Information Station (VIS) on Hawaiʻi Island will adjust its closing time from 10 p.m. to 5 p.m. beginning Sunday, December 9, for an infrastructure...
BEST VIEW YET OF SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES IN MERGING GALAXIES
A team of astronomers, including IfA’s David Sanders and former IfA postdoc Mike Koss, have used the W. M. Keck Observatory on Muanakea and the Hubble Space Telescope to complete the most detailed census of supermassive black holes in colliding galaxies. The team’s findings support the theory that galaxy mergers explain how some supermassive black holes become so monstrously large.
While Seeking Planet X, Astronomers Find a Distant Solar System Objectzsd
Astronomers have discovered a new object at the edge of our Solar System. The new extremely distant object far beyond Pluto has an orbit that supports the presence of a larger Planet X. The newly found object, called 2015 TG387, was announced by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center on Monday, October 1, 2018.