The Grand 3D Tour of the Universe
‘Imiloa’s Next Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe
Hilo, Hawai‘i – ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center’s live evening planetarium program 3D Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe, offers “The Grand Tour of the Universe” for the quarterly program, Friday, September 13th at 7:00 p.m. Shawn Laatsch, ‘Imiloa’s planetarium manager, will host the evening presentation as he “flies” participants out into space on a unique and engaging tour of the Universe, utilizing the 3D stereoscopic projection system in the ‘Imiloa planetarium.
The audience will jump off Earth and explore the local neighborhood of our solar system, including planets and their moons, and zip through the rings of Saturn. The journey continues outward to visit other star systems with planets, fly through the Orion Nebula, explore open and globular clusters along with numerous other objects in our Milky Way Galaxy. From there, Laatsch will take audiences to the Andromeda Galaxy, the Virgo super-cluster of galaxies, and to the edge of the known Universe. This will be a grand voyage through time and space utilizing imagery from the Maunakea Observatories, including CFHT, Gemini, and UKIRT.
Shawn Laatsch serves as an Executive Officer in the International Planetarium Society, the world’s largest organization of planetarium professionals, is on the Board of Directors for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and is actively involved in astronomy and science education outreach and education and is a NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador. For more than 25 years he has been actively involved in planetarium program development and astronomy education in museum, university, and K-12 settings. He has a passion for cultural and historical astronomy.
On the third Friday of each month, learn about the Hawaiian night sky at the monthly Maunakea Skies talk where astronomers from the Maunakea observatories speak about their recent discoveries and the science behind them.
The Friday night program time is 7:00 p.m., with ticketing at $10 for non-members and $8 for members (member level discounts apply). Tickets may be pre-purchased at the ‘Imiloa front desk or by phone using Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or JCB, by calling (808) 969-9703 during regular business hours. Tickets are non-refundable.
‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai‘i is located at 600 ‘Imiloa Place in Hilo, off Komohana and Nowelo Streets at the UH-Hilo Science and Technology Park. For more information, go to www.imiloahawaii.org, or call (808) 969-9700.
