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Frequently Asked Questions
I'm interested in amateur astronomy. Where can I find out more about that? If you're based in Hilo itself, there is a Hilo Astronomy Club. For more information, contact Dave Brennen at <dbrennen@lava.net>. For more information, and if you're based elsewhere, please see The Astronomy White Pages and The Astronomical League. Can I visit your observatories (UKIRT and JCMT)? Our observatories are unfortunately not equipped to handle visitors, so you can not go inside. The same goes for our facility in Hilo. The Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station runs tours of the summit area every Saturday, and they do visit the Keck Observatory and the UH-88" Observatory. In addition you can see all of the observatories from the outside. You can find out more about this tour from MKVIS. The Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station (MKVIS) is at the 9000-foot level on the mountain. To get there, drive out of Hilo towards Kona on the Saddle Road. After the 27 mile marker, and around the 28 mile marker, turn right towards Mauna Kea (it is the only right turn on this part of the Saddle Road). The MKVIS has a website at http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/vis/ and there is a recorded message on telephone number 808-961-2180. You can get to the MKVIS (but not the summit) in a standard 2WD car. The MKVIS runs summit tours on Saturdays and Sundays. These are free, but you need to provide your own 4WD. See the page at http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/vis/summittour.html. If you need to rent your own 4WD, a company that does this is Harpers: http://www.harpershawaii.com/ The MKVIS website also has a list of permitted commercial tour operators at http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/vis/permitted_tours.html Even if you don't go all the way to the summit, the MKVIS run a free stargazing programme every night from sundown to 10pm. Information is at http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/vis/stargazing.html If you do spend time on the mountain, please do be very careful. It will be much colder than sea level, the altitude can cause problems, and the roads can be dangerous! Please read the advice on pages such as http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/vis/info_bulletin.html and http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/vis/bulletins.html. Make sure you spend plenty of time at the MKVIS level to acclimatize. I am a teacher. How can I get an astronomer or engineer to visit my class room? Joint Astronomy Centre staff is actively engaged in visiting schools and community
centers throughout the Big Island of Hawai`i. We also conduct teacher training upon request. If
you would like to have an astronomer or engineer visit your class room (pre-school, K-12, college)
or your community center, please contact us at: Who was James Clerk Maxwell? James Clerk Maxwell was a famous 19th century Scottish physicist who discovered that light was in fact an electromagnetic wave. It is part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which ranges from radio waves through visible light to x-rays. You can find out much more about him from The Clerk Maxwell Foundation. Where are JAC staff from? All over the place! We have many people from here in Hawai`i, and from the rest of the U.S.A., of course. In addition, we have staff from the U.K., Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, India, Australia, Sweden, the Czech Republic, China and Greece. |