Observatories atop Mauna Kea are offering viewing time to Hawaii students as part of their new “Maunakea Scholars” program.
Observatories atop Mauna Kea are offering viewing time to Hawaii students as part of their new “Maunakea Scholars” program.
The Maunakea Observatories announced the launch of the program Thursday, calling it a “new and innovative program designed to bring Hawaii’s aspiring young astronomers into the observatory community.”
“This is the first program of its kind internationally, leveraging the most powerful collection of telescopes in the world for the direct educational advancement of Hawaii’s high school students,” the telescope hui said in a press release.
Just like professional astronomers, the students will work alongside astronomy mentors to design proposals for telescope time with Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope.
The inaugural year includes classes of juniors and seniors at Waiakea High School on Hawaii Island and Kapolei High School on Oahu.
On March 2, the first round of telescope time allocation will be awarded at Kapolei High by Doug Simons, director of CFHT, and Hawaii State Department of Education superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi.