Stargazing in Hawaii

November 9, 9:45 PMHonolulu Affordable Travel ExaminerSandi Yara

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Concept drawing by NASA

People are fascinated by the universe.  I am ... and something posted at starbulletin.com recently caught my eye ... UH astronomers find galaxy and farthest black hole ever.  Here is an excerpt.

A giant galaxy surrounding the most distant super-massive black hole ever detected has been discovered by University of Hawaii astronomers working with the Subaru telescope on Mauna Kea – one of the many great telescopes perched atop the extinct volcano.

Researcher Tomotsugu Goto and his colleagues reported the galaxy is 12.8 billion light-years away, appearing as it would have when the universe was only 6 percent of its current age. The galaxy is as large as the Milky Way and contains a black hole with a mass at least a billion times as much matter as the sun, he said.

"They are probably co-evolving and growing together."

Understanding galaxies that host super-massive black holes is important to learn how galaxies and black holes evolve together, he said. "There must be a connection."

For the complete story by Helen Altonn, click here.

While it’s not directly travel related, there is a travel connection.  Star-gazing is something you can do when visiting Hawaii.  You can do it at night by laying down on a beach towel spread out on the sand or by leaning back in a lounge chair on the lanai.  If you’re really interested in the heavens, here’s a short list of where you can go to pursue this activity:  go to the Planetarium at the Bishop Museum on Oahu, visit the observatories at Mauna Kea on the Big Island (photo by Hawaii's Big Island Visitor Bureau) and/or sign-up for the star-gazing tours at hotels along the Kohala Coast by Star Gaze Hawaii.  One hour sessions are held at the following resorts by longtime astronomy enthusiast Wayne Fukunaga.

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