University of Â鶹´«Ã½ (IfA) Director Doug Simons explained how Â鶹´«Ã½ is the world leader in astronomy, and UH¡¯s role in that 50-year legacy, in a February 3 virtual presentation to the UH Board of Regents research and innovation committee. Simons also shared his personal story¡ªhow he first became fascinated by astronomy and how it brought him to Â鶹´«Ã½ more than three decades ago.
World-renowned astronomy research in Â鶹´«Ã½ is conducted on Maunakea, Â鶹´«Ã½ and Haleakal¨¡, Maui. Maunakea, on UH-managed lands, is the most prolific astronomy complex in the world in total science impact (number of peer review scientific papers multiplied by their citations), according to Simons, and even outperforms the Hubble Telescope.
The (UHERO) just reported that the economic impact of astronomy in Â鶹´«Ã½ in 2019 was $221 million.
Simon stressed that astronomy?s impact on Â鶹´«Ã½ goes far beyond scientific discoveries and the revenue that it generates.
Education and outreach
Simons highlighted the Hawaiian language-based program, operated out of the at UH Hilo. Hawaiian-speaking students and educators work with language experts and Â鶹´«Ã½-based astronomers to create names in ʻōlelo Â鶹´«Ã½ (Hawaiian language) for astronomical discoveries made in Â鶹´«Ã½. The collaborative program is behind more than a handful of celestial Â鶹´«Ã½ discoveries that captured world-wide attention, including mysterious interstellar object ʻOumuamua and Pōwehi, the world¡¯s very first image of a black hole.
“I¡¯m convinced that there is a real thirst for this type of discovery and it¡¯s highly amplified by the synergy, if you will, with the A Hua He Inoa program providing these Hawaiian names,” Simons explained. “For me, it¡¯s kind of like Maunakea having a global voice and that voice is Hawaiian. Very much as it should be.”
Also, since 2015, IfA students have helped mentor more than 500 public Â鶹´«Ã½ high school students under astronomy education program, , a collaborative endeavor Simons helped establish when he was the director of the Canada-France-Â鶹´«Ã½ Telescope. The program enables local teens to apply for observing time across the Maunakea Observatories for their own independent research proposals.
Intergalactic collaboration
Part of the presentation also spotlighted Â鶹´«Ã½ astronomy¡¯s world-class capabilities and how it has led to innovative research interconnection with billion-dollar spaced- based satellites such as ±·´¡³§´¡¡¯²õ Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite or TESS (an all-sky survey mission equipped to discover exoplanets in orbit) and the historic James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) recently launched in December 2021.
According to Simons, near-infrared sensors (HAWAII–2RGs) developed and tested at IfA and on Maunakea will enable the JWST to gaze deeper into space than ever before. In the next 12¨C24 months, telescopes on Maunakea will play an integral role in follow-up observations captured by JWST as it starts its search for potential signs of life on other planets.
Simons likens astronomical observations of our generation to the early discoveries of Polynesia.
“They were, of course, masters of exploring the ocean in search of islands and sort of the analogy for me is, our medium has changed from ocean to space itself and our islands have now turned into planets,” he explained.
This work is an example of UH ²Ñ¨¡²Ô´Ç²¹¡¯s goal of (PDF) and (PDF), two of four goals identified in the (PDF), updated in December 2020.