{"id":141444,"date":"2021-05-14T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T19:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=141444"},"modified":"2021-05-14T10:48:54","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T20:48:54","slug":"xploration-awesome-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/14\/xploration-awesome-planet\/","title":{"rendered":"Award-winning science TV<\/abbr> show features UH<\/abbr> astronomer, students"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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TV<\/abbr> crew films J.D. Armstrong on Haleakal\u0101<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The award-winning television show, Xploration Awesome Planet<\/em><\/a> will feature University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Institute for Astronomy<\/a> (IfA<\/abbr>) education and outreach specialist, J.D. Armstrong<\/strong> and his students on Saturday, May 15, at 2:30 p.m. on KHON<\/abbr>. The Earth science series, which airs on FOX<\/abbr> channels nationwide, will showcase Armstrong and three of his students who are part of IfA<\/abbr> mentorship program, HI STAR<\/abbr> (Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Student\/Teacher Astronomy Research).<\/a><\/p>\n

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Xploration Awesome Planet is hosted by legendary explorer Jacques Cousteau\u2019s grandson, Philippe.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Armstrong, who is based on Maui, mentors intermediate and high schoolers. Students are given access to observational data from telescopes on Haleakalā, such as the Las Cumbres Observatory Faulkes Telescope North<\/a>, Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System and UH<\/abbr>\u2019s PAN-STARRS, the world’s leading Near Earth Object (NEO<\/abbr>) discovery telescope.<\/p>\n

“The students I\u2019m working with do some pretty amazing work,” explained Armstrong. “Take this situation as an example. An object was detected that was going to impact the earth, and I called these guys. It might bother some people to think that the safety of the world might end up in the hands of some teenagers, but it shouldn\u2019t. They know what they are doing.”<\/p>\n