Dedicated Sessions

April 16, 2024

Astronomy Night at the International Gemini Observatory North Telescope

Dedicated Session for the CENTA Community of Teachers and Students

The international Gemini Observatory consists of twin 8.1-meter diameter optical/infrared telescopes located on mountains in Hawai`i (Maunakea) and Chile (Cerro Pachón), enabling the telescopes to collectively access the entire sky.

The observing team will be using the Gemini North telescope located near the summit of Maunakea on the island of Hawai`i, with the observations taking place remotely from the control room in the Hilo Base Facility. Gemini Observatory utilizes queue observing mode in which staff take observations on behalf of science teams from all over the world. The staff determine the conditions on the ground and in the sky, as well as the scientific priorities, and choose from a pool of scientific programs to observe.

The instruments available to the observing team during this session include the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS), the speckle imager ʻAlopeke, the MAROON-X instrument which is capable of detecting Earth-like planets in the habitable zone of low-mass nearby stars, and the Gemini Near InfraRed Spectrograph (GNIRS). Also available will be the ALTtitude conjugate Adaptive optics for the InfraRed (ALTAIR), Gemini’s natural/laser guide star adaptive optics system, which can be used with the GNIRS instrument. Observing targets for this session could range from asteroids in our solar system, massive stars, and distant galaxies, to supernovae, and even gamma-ray bursts.

April 9, 2024

Astronomy Night at the International Gemini Observatory North

Dedicated Session for the CBSE Community of Teachers and Students

The international Gemini Observatory consists of twin 8.1-meter diameter optical/infrared telescopes located on mountains in Hawai`i (Maunakea) and Chile (Cerro Pachón), enabling the telescopes to collectively access the entire sky.

The observing team will use the Gemini North telescope near the summit of Maunakea on the island of Hawai`i with observations takinge place remotely from the control room of the Hilo Base Facility. Gemini Observatory utilizes a queue observing mode in which science staff members take observations on behalf of science teams from all over the world. The staff determine the conditions on the ground and in the sky, as well as the scientific priorities, and choose from a pool of scientific programs to observe.

The instruments available to the observing team during this session include the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS), the speckle imager ʻAlopeke, the MAROON-X instrument which is capable of detecting Earth-like planets in the habitable zone of low-mass nearby stars, and the Gemini Near InfraRed Spectrograph (GNIRS). Also available will be the ALTtitude conjugate Adaptive optics for the InfraRed (ALTAIR), Gemini’s natural/laser guide star adaptive optics system, which can be used with the GNIRS instrument.

Observing targets for this session could range from asteroids in our solar system, massive stars, and distant galaxies to supernovae and even gamma-ray bursts.

April 6, 2024

Chasing Asteroids with J.D. Armstrong

Dedicated Session for Attendees of the Los Angeles City of STEM + Maker Faire

Scientists believe that an asteroid caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. While you shouldn’t lose any sleep over it tonight, the threat of asteroid impacts is real. 48.5 tons of material fall on the earth every day.

Previously, J. D. shared how he performs follow-up observations of Near Earth Object (NEO) candidates. Recently, while following up on NEOs with Las Cumbres Observatory of robotic telescopes, he detected an object that was not known. This could be a NEW ASTEROID DISCOVERY. J. D. will give a live update on this potential new find.

March 29, 2024

Astronomy Night at the International Gemini Observatory

Dedicated Session for University of Toronto Graduate Students

The international Gemini Observatory consists of twin 8.1-meter diameter optical/infrared telescopes located on mountains in Hawai`i (Maunakea) and Chile (Cerro Pachón), enabling the telescopes to collectively access the entire sky.

In this dedicated session for a class of graduate students at the University of Toronto, the observing team will be using the Gemini North telescope located near the summit of Maunakea on the island of Hawai`i, with the observations taking place remotely from the control room in the Hilo Base Facility.

Gemini Observatory utilizes a queue observing mode in which staff members take observations on behalf of science teams from all over the world. The instruments available to the observing team during this session include the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS), Gemini Near InfraRed Spectrograph (GNIRS), the speckle imager ʻAlopeke, and Gemini-North’s Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrometer (NIFS). Many of these instruments can be used with our ALTtitude conjugate Adaptive optics for the InfraRed (ALTAIR), Gemini’s natural/laser guide star adaptive optics system.

Observing targets for this session could range from asteroids in our solar system, massive stars, and distant galaxies to supernovae and even gamma-ray bursts.

March 16, 2024

Exploring Earth’s Paleoclimate with the Crew of the JOIDES Resolution Expedition

Pasadena Unified School District Science Fest

The JOIDES Resolution (JR) is a seagoing research vessel that drills core samples and collects measurements from under the ocean floor, providing scientists with a glimpse into Earth’s development. JOIDES is an acronym for the Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling, which represents the original partnership of universities that sought to explore the geology beneath the ocean floor.

Today the ship is used by scientists at hundreds of universities around the world. Data from the JR’s ocean drilling offer a scientific means of understanding climate and environmental change throughout a significant part of our planet’s history—a research subject often termed Earth’s paleoclimate. The JR’s core samples are the “smoking gun” in evaluating many historical events related to paleoclimate, changes in the solid Earth, and more — like the extinction of the dinosaurs and plate tectonics.

January 21, 2024

Spanish and English Session for the La Noche Community

This session is led by Matthew Shetrone, Deputy Director of Lick Observatory, and Ivan Madrigal. As galactic archeologists, we are hunting through the many stars of the Milky Way looking for rare specimens. In this case, we are looking for two things: 1) the first stars that may have formed in our galaxy, and 2) a rare class of stars with an abnormal amount of carbon in their atmospheres.

The first stars can tell us about the formation history of our galaxy and the first supernova that began the process of turning the big bang leftovers (hydrogen and helium) into all of the elements around us today. If we can confirm that we have very metal-poor stars in our sample using short exposures with the KAST spectrograph using short exposures, we will follow those up with a different spectrograph to get the detailed abundances with long exposures later in the winter.

The carbon-rich stars can tell us about the death of stars slightly more massive than our sun, and if that has changed since the time of the oldest stars. We hope to confirm a large sample of suspected carbon-rich stars with short exposures with the KAST spectrograph.

January 16, 2024

Astronomy Night at the International Gemini Observatory

Dedicated Session for CENTA Teachers

The international Gemini Observatory consists of twin 8.1-meter diameter optical/infrared telescopes located on mountains in Hawai`i (Maunakea) and Chile (Cerro Pachón), enabling the telescopes to collectively access the entire sky.

Gemini Observatory utilizes queue observing mode in which Gemini staff take observations on behalf of science teams from all over the world. They determine the conditions on the ground and in the sky, as well as the scientific priorities, and choose from a pool of scientific programs to observe. This means anything could be observed on any night!

The observing team will be using the Gemini North telescope located near the summit of Maunakea on the island of Hawai`i, with the observations taking place remotely from the control room in the Hilo Base Facility. Observing targets for this session could range from asteroids in our solar system, massive stars, and distant galaxies, to supernovae, and even gamma-ray bursts.

Come along for this cosmic adventure as we explore the universe and share its wonders!

December 1, 2023

La Noche Community Session

Astronomy Night with Matthew Shetrone, Deputy Director of Lick Observatory. As galactic archeologists, we are hunting through the many stars of the Milky Way looking for rare specimens. In this case, we are looking for two things: 1) the first stars that may have formed in our galaxy, and 2) a rare class of stars with an abnormal amount of carbon in their atmospheres.

The first stars can tell us about the formation history of our galaxy and the first supernova that began the process of turning the big bang leftovers (hydrogen and helium) into all of the elements around us today. If we can confirm that we have very metal-poor stars in our sample using short exposures with the KAST spectrograph using short exposures, we will follow those up with a different spectrograph to get the detailed abundances with long exposures later in the winter.

The carbon-rich stars can tell us about the death of stars slightly more massive than our sun, and if that has changed since the time of the oldest stars. We hope to confirm a large sample of suspected carbon-rich stars with short exposures with the KAST spectrograph.

Moderators: Matthew Shetrone, Evan Carrasco, and Ivan Madrigal

November 3, 2023

La Noche Community Session

Astronomy Night with Matthew Shetrone, Deputy Director of Lick Observatory. As galactic archeologists, we are hunting through the many stars of the Milky Way looking for rare specimens. In this case, we are looking for two things: 1) the first stars that may have formed in our galaxy, and 2) a rare class of stars with an abnormal amount of carbon in their atmospheres.

The first stars can tell us about the formation history of our galaxy and the first supernova that began the process of turning the big bang leftovers (hydrogen and helium) into all of the elements around us today. If we can confirm that we have very metal-poor stars in our sample using short exposures with the KAST spectrograph using short exposures, we will follow those up with a different spectrograph to get the detailed abundances with long exposures later in the winter.

The carbon-rich stars can tell us about the death of stars slightly more massive than our sun, and if that has changed since the time of the oldest stars. We hope to confirm a large sample of suspected carbon-rich stars with short exposures with the KAST spectrograph.

Moderators: Matthew Shetrone, Evan Carrasco, and Ivan Madrigal

May 22, 2023

Amharic and English Session

Kaixiang Wang (Peking University), Eric Peng (NOIRLab), Raja GuhaThakurta (UC Santa Cruz), and their collaborators on the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) team will use the Keck II 10-meter telescope and Echelle Spectrograph and Imager (ESI) instrument on the summit of Maunakea on the Big Island of Hawai’i to study an unusual class of galaxies, ultra compact dwarf (UCD) galaxies, in the Virgo cluster of galaxies. The Virgo cluster, the nearest large collection of galaxies, is located at a distance of 50 million light years from us. 

In this dedicated session, we are joined by 150 students from high schools in Ethiopia including Nazareth School, Cruise School, Andinet International School, Radical Academy, and Minilik II Secondary School.

Moderators: Eric Peng, Jerusalem Tamirat, Kaixiang Wang, Kirubel Menberu, and Raja GuhaThakurta

May 15, 2023

Arabic, Hebrew and English Session

In this dedicated session for primary school students in the Middle East, Joel Roediger (Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre), Elisa Toloba (University of the Pacific), Eric Peng (NOIRLab), Raja GuhaThakurta (UC Santa Cruz), and their collaborators on the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) team will use the Keck II 10-meter telescope and Echelle Spectrograph and Imager (ESI) instrument on the summit of Maunakea on the Big Island of Hawai’i.

The team will study a class of low-mass galaxies, dwarf elliptical (dE) galaxies, in the Virgo cluster of galaxies. The Virgo cluster, the nearest large collection of galaxies, is located at a distance of 50 million light years from us.

Moderator: Raja GuhaThakurta

April 17, 2023

Spanish and English Session for Students in Colombia

Joel Roediger (Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre), Elisa Toloba (University of the Pacific), Eric Peng (NOIRLab), Raja GuhaThakurta (UC Santa Cruz), and their collaborators on the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) team will use the Keck II 10-meter telescope and Echelle Spectrograph and Imager (ESI) instrument on the summit of Maunakea on the Big Island of Hawai’i.

The team will study a class of low-mass galaxies, dwarf elliptical (dE) galaxies, in the Virgo cluster of galaxies. The Virgo cluster, the nearest large collection of galaxies, is located at a distance of 50 million light years from us.

In this session we are joined by students from six high schools in Colombia.

Moderator: Jeronimo Calderon Gómez in conjunction with Juan Pablo Uchima (RECA)

March 30, 2023

Gujariti and English Session

In this special Shadow the Scientists session, Dr. Ekta Shah (University of California, Davis) facilitates our first session in Gujarati as we shadow Dr. Brian Lemaux (Gemini-N/NOIRLab), Dr. Lu Shen (Texas A&M University), Dr. Roy Gal (Institute for Astronomy, UH), Dr. Ben Forrest (University of California, Davis), and graduate student Priti Staab (University of California, Davis) as they simultaneously use *two* telescopes at the top of Maunakea on the Big Island of Hawai’i.

In these observations, the team will be using the Multi-Object InfraRed Camera and Spectrograph (MOIRCS) on the Subaru Telescope and the Multi-Object Spectrometer For InfraRed Exploration (MOSFIRE) on the W.M. Keck Observatory to understand how galaxy clusters are formed.

February 17, 2023

Columbia University Session

Kaixiang Wang (Peking University), Eric Peng (NOIRLab), Raja GuhaThakurta (UC Santa Cruz), and their collaborators on the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) team will use the Keck II 10-meter telescope and Echelle Spectrograph and Imager (ESI) instrument on the summit of Maunakea on the Big Island of Hawai’i to study an unusual class of galaxies, ultra compact dwarf (UCD) galaxies, in the Virgo cluster of galaxies. The Virgo cluster, the nearest large collection of galaxies, is located at a distance of 50 million light years from us. 

In this dedicated session, we are joined by first-year undergraduate students from Columbia University enrolled in the Frontiers of Science course co-instructed by Amanda Quirk.

Moderator: Eric Peng

February 16, 2023

Spanish and English Session for Students in Colombia

November 17, 2022

Hindi and English Session for Students in India

Lara Cullinane (Johns Hopkins U), Raja GuhaThakurta (UCSC), Margaret Lazzarini (Caltech), and their PHAST research team used the Keck II 10-meter telescope and DEIMOS spectrograph on Maunakea, Hawai`i to obtain multi object spectra of the resolved stellar population in the southern disk of the Andromeda galaxy (M31). The spectra will be used to study the dynamical heating history of M31’s stellar disk, and chemical evolution of the galaxy. M31 is located about 2.5 million light years from us.

In this session we were joined by class 5–10 students from APSS (Army Proud Scholars School) in Khundru, Kashmir, India.

Moderators: Dr. Nazma Parveen and Rohit Raj (Juniata College)

October 29, 2022

Urdu and English Session for Students in Pakistan

Alessandro Savino (UC Berkeley), Raja GuhaThakurta (UCSC), and their research team used the Keck II 10-meter telescope and DEIMOS spectrograph on Maunakea, Hawai`i to obtain multi object spectra of the resolved stellar population in the dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies of the Andromeda galaxy (M31). The spectra will be used to study the orbit, star formation history, and chemical enrichment history of these dwarf spheroidal galaxies. The M31 galaxy and its dwarf satellites are located about 2.5 million light years from us.

In this session we are joined by high school students and educators from Lahore Science Mela in Lahore, Pakistan.

Moderator: Mohsina Asif (Khwarizmi Science Society)

December 03, 2021

Special Session for Students in Malawi and Zimbabwe

Stephanie Figuereo, Raja GuhaThakurta (both at UCSC), Stefan Kimura (Willamette U), Rafael Nuñez (SFSU), Monika Soraisam (NOIRLab), and their SALVATION project research team used the Lick Observatory Shane 3-meter telescope and Kast spectrograph on Mount Hamilton, California to obtain spectra of variable stars and transients discovered by the Zwicky Transient Factory, with a focus on the Andromeda galaxy (M31). The spectra will be used to study stellar pulsations, rare phases of stellar evolution, and explosive events. M31 is located about 2.5 million light years from us.

In this session we were joined by high school students in Malawi and Zimbabwe.

Moderator: Knowledge Chukundi (Africa Science Buskers Festival)

December 03, 2021

Spanish and English Session for Students in Mexico

Stephanie Figuereo, Raja GuhaThakurta (both at UCSC), Stefan Kimura (Willamette U), Rafael Nuñez (SFSU), Monika Soraisam (NOIRLab), and their SALVATION project research team used the Lick Observatory Shane 3-meter telescope and Kast spectrograph on Mount Hamilton, California to obtain spectra of variable stars and transients discovered by the Zwicky Transient Factory, with a focus on the Andromeda galaxy (M31). The spectra will be used to study stellar pulsations, rare phases of stellar evolution, and explosive events. M31 is located about 2.5 million light years from us.

In this session we were joined by high school students from Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Muzquiz in Muzquiz, México.

Moderator: Dr. Svea Hernandez (Space Telescope Science Institute)

September 13, 2021

Special Session for Students in Zimbabwe

Amanda Quirk, Raja GuhaThakurta (both at UCSC), and their PHATTER research teams used the Keck II 10-meter telescope and DEIMOS spectrograph on Maunakea, Hawai`i to obtain multi object spectra of the general resolved stellar population in the disk of the Triangulum galaxy (M33). The spectra will be used to study the dynamical heating history of the stellar disk, inner halo, and chemical evolution of the galaxy. M33 is located about 2.7 million light years from us.

In this session we were joined by high school students from Queen Elizabeth School in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Moderator: Knowledge Chukundi (Africa Science Buskers Festival)