Young star gazers and space lovers don’t have to travel far for an out-of-this-world experience — just to Bishop Museum’s J. Watumull Planetarium. This month the planetarium presents two special events: The Stars Tonight on Saturday and Navigating by the Stars — Manaiakalani (The Chief’s Fishline) on Aug. 21.
The shows are a special way for families to spend time together, said planetarium supervisor Tony Smith.
“It’s a chance to learn something new in a unique environment and use things like telescopes that most folks don’t have access to,” Smith said.
Guests of The Stars Tonight, held on the first Saturday of every month, will experience an extended planetarium show about what can be seen in the sky that evening.
“After the show and weather permitting, we’ll open up our observatory telescope, which is only open during these events,” Smith said. “Through that telescope and the ones brought by members of the Hawaiian Astronomical Society, guests can observe objects like Jupiter or Saturn that are talked about in the planetarium show.”
Navigating by the Stars — Manaiakalani features guest speaker Ka‘iulani Murphy, Hokule‘a navigator and Honolulu Community College instructor. Murphy will share her experiences navigating Hokule‘a using the stars and discuss which stars are used this time of year.
Smith said that after the presentation, as long as the weather holds, visitors can look for stars and constellations covered in the program. (There will be one more Navigating by the Stars program this year — Ka Lupe o Kawelo, or The Kite of Kawelo — on Nov. 20.)
In addition to the two shows this month, the planetarium presents year-round daily shows covering a variety of topics, Smith said, “so we encourage folks to come visit Bishop Museum any day of the week and join us for a show in the planetarium.”
Also, visitors can check out the planetarium lobby for NASA’s Earth Observing Mission exhibits, which offer a hands-on look at how NASA uses satellites to learn about our planet, and NOAA’s Science on a Sphere, which hangs in the middle of the lobby and can display over 500 data sets (projected images that originate from data collected by satellites) of Earth and planetary science.
THE STARS TONIGHT & NAVIGATING THE STARS
Special events at Bishop Museum’s J. Watumull Planetarium
>> Where: Bishop Museum
>> When: 8 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday (The Stars Tonight); 7 to 8 p.m. Aug. 21(Navigating by the Stars — Manaiakalani)
>> Cost: $7 to $10 per show; online registration required
>> Info: To register for these shows or for details on daily planetarium shows, visit bishop museum.org/planetarium
