Hawai‘i Students Take a Journey Through the Universe!

During the week of March 2 - 6, almost 300 classrooms in the Hilo, Hawai‘i area engaged with local Maunakea observatory staff and other astronomy STEM professionals during the 16th annual Journey Through the Universe program. Here, Scot Kleinman, Gemini’s Associate Director of Development, shares how a coronagraph helps scientists discover exoplanets with second-grade students from Hilo’s E. B. De Silva elementary school. Now in its 16th year, the annual Journey Through the Universe program, led by staff at the international Gemini Observatory, a program of the NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, brings hands-on science demonstrations into K-12 classrooms to inspire the next generation of explorers.