Hawai‘i Students Take a Journey Through the Universe!

Over the past week, 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 NOIRLab, brings hands-on science demonstrations into K-12 classrooms to inspire the next generation of explorers.