The Mauna Kea Stewardship & Oversight Authority (MKSOA) is preparing to take office under a new management plan and is hosting a community talk story on Thursday, February 3, in Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi. This talk story is part of a series of gatherings across the pae ʻāina to connect with community and share ʻike about the future stewardship of Mauna Kea, with a focus on Access and Aspiration.

These gatherings are not formal hearings. Instead, they are designed as spaces to listen, connect, and talk story — an opportunity for community members and the Authority to sit together, build shared understanding, and reflect on what stewardship, access, and aspiration mean for Mauna Kea moving forward.

The first portion of each gathering will provide a brief overview of Mauna Kea and the role of the Authority, ensuring everyone has a shared foundation. The majority of the time will then be dedicated to small-group conversations, where participants can share perspectives, experiences, and manaʻo in a more personal and relational setting.

These conversations will help ground the Authority’s early work in community values, cultural context, and lived experience, and support the development of stewardship priorities rooted in trust, transparency, and respect.

Our favorite Friday night in Waimea is back! Waimea Family Food Truck is a monthly community event held in the heart of Waimea Town at the W.M. Keck Observatory Headquarters. This free, family-friendly gathering brings together a variety of local food and beverage vendors, offering delicious meals, sweet treats, and specialty favorites from across the island. Listen to live music from 5:00 to 7:30p and do outdoor keiki activities. Enjoy great food, support local businesses, and connect with friends, family, and the Waimea community.

Restrooms and ample parking are available. Bring an umbrella, as the event will happen rain or shine. There's plenty of space for picnic blankets and chairs, so bring them along!

This is an alcohol-free event.

The Mauna Kea Stewardship & Oversight Authority (MKSOA) is preparing to take office under a new management plan and is hosting a community talk story on Thursday, January 29, in Kaunakakai, Molokaʻi. This talk story is part of a series of gatherings across the pae ʻāina to connect with community and share ʻike about the future stewardship of Mauna Kea, with a focus on Access and Aspiration.

These gatherings are not formal hearings. Instead, they are designed as spaces to listen, connect, and talk story — an opportunity for community members and the Authority to sit together, build shared understanding, and reflect on what stewardship, access, and aspiration mean for Mauna Kea moving forward.

The first portion of each gathering will provide a brief overview of Mauna Kea and the role of the Authority, ensuring everyone has a shared foundation. The majority of the time will then be dedicated to small-group conversations, where participants can share perspectives, experiences, and manaʻo in a more personal and relational setting.

These conversations will help ground the Authority’s early work in community values, cultural context, and lived experience, and support the development of stewardship priorities rooted in trust, transparency, and respect.

Join ‘Imiloa for this free, exciting talk with Dr. Don Hemmes, Professor Emeritus of Biology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. Edible and poisonous mushrooms of Hawai'i will be illustrated along with fruiting bodies of other fleshy fungi including stink horns, earth stars, bird's nest fungi, shelf fungi, and morels. Species endemic to the islands and newly introduced species will be described.

MKSOA is preparing to take office with a new management plan and will be hosting 10 community workshops across the pae ‘āina to discuss the future of Mauna Kea, focusing especially on Access and Aspiration. Registration is optional and helps determine a headcount for pupus and refreshments at the venues.

Attend a workshop to share your mana‘o (thoughts) and input to provide critical guidance for helping to shape decision-making, inform stewardship priorities, and ensure that the path forward is grounded in transparency, cultural respect, and community-driven values.

Topics:

• Comprehensive Management Plan

• Drafting the Aspirational Statement

• Access

• Application of Kānāwai

• Q&A

Kīlauea volcano has historically erupted more than 35 episodes in the summit caldera since December 23, 2024. Lava fountains from two eruptive vents have built an impressive cone on the crater rim and incrementally filled in Halemaʻumaʻu crater with stacks of lava flows. Volcanic gas emissions and particles of lava are carried in downwind directions. Have there been similar eruptions in the history of Kīlauea? What are the hazards associated with this activity? How could this eruption potentially end? Join USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory deputy Scientist-in-Charge David Phillips at the ʻImiloa Planetarium as he answers these questions and more.

ʻImiloa Members: $5

General Public: $10

The Onizuka family, the Onizuka Memorial Committee, the Hawaiʻi Science and Technology Museum, PISCES, and the Canada-France-Hawaiʻi Telescope are bringing Astronaut Ellison Onizuka Science Day back to Hilo for the first time since 2020! This free community event for all ages will feature a day of STEM exhibits, hands-on workshops, AMA with an astronaut, special guest speakers, and food in celebration of the inspiring life and legacy of Hawaiʻi’s first astronaut. All ages are welcome!

Highlights & Activities

• Meet a real NASA astronaut

• Special guest speakers

• Exhibits and demonstrations by local STEM organizations

• Hands-on workshops for students, grades 3–12 (details TBA)

• State Qualifying VEX IQ Robotics Tournament

Workshop Registration

Onizuka Day will include a variety of 1-hour, hands-on workshop sessions geared for students in grades 3–12. Seating is limited and will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. Staff will do their best to place students in their preferred workshops. View the list of workshops and register using the links below.

MKSOA is preparing to take office with a new management plan and will be hosting 10 community workshops across the pae ‘āina to discuss the future of Mauna Kea, focusing especially on Access and Aspiration. Registration is optional and helps determine a headcount for pupus and refreshments at the venues.

Attend a workshop to share your mana‘o (thoughts) and input to provide critical guidance for helping to shape decision-making, inform stewardship priorities, and ensure that the path forward is grounded in transparency, cultural respect, and community-driven values.

Topics:

• Comprehensive Management Plan

• Drafting the Aspirational Statement

• Access

• Application of Kānāwai

• Q&A

MKSOA is preparing to take office with a new management plan and will be hosting 10 community workshops across the pae ‘āina to discuss the future of Mauna Kea, focusing especially on Access and Aspiration. Registration is optional and helps determine a headcount for pupus and refreshments at the venues.

Attend a workshop to share your mana‘o (thoughts) and input to provide critical guidance for helping to shape decision-making, inform stewardship priorities, and ensure that the path forward is grounded in transparency, cultural respect, and community-driven values.

Topics:

• Comprehensive Management Plan

• Drafting the Aspirational Statement

• Access

• Application of Kānāwai

• Q&A

Come enjoy the holiday season at the 9th annual Garden Enchantment! Garden Enchantment is a two-night event taking place the evenings of December 23 and 24 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. On Tuesday evening, the perimeter of the park will be lit by several community groups, including astronomers, Lions Clubs, Volkswagen Club, and others. A free photo booth featuring the Grinch will be near the east torii under the monkeypod tree on Banyan Drive.

Come enjoy the holiday season at the 9th annual Garden Enchantment! Garden Enchantment is a two-night event taking place the evenings of December 23 and 24 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. On Tuesday evening, the perimeter of the park will be lit by several community groups, including astronomers, Lions Clubs, Volkswagen Club, and others. A free photo booth featuring the Grinch will be near the east torii under the monkeypod tree on Banyan Drive.

ʻImiloa's Halau ʻOkupu Play and Learn is a unique Place-based and Play-Based Enrichment Program designed for keiki (Ages 1-4) along with a max of 2 caregivers per toddler.

ʻOkupu refers to young sprouts or the new shoots of a plant sent out to grow. ʻImiloa invites parents and caregivers to come explore with their young sprouts in an environment that fosters learning through curiosity, exploration, and play! Through a variety of activities, including gross and small motor skill exercises, sensory exploration, dramatic play, movement activities, and arts and crafts, keiki are encouraged to actively engage while developing essential skills. These engaging experiences are specially developed to provide opportunities for keiki and their caregivers to foster stronger connections to their island home and community. Join ʻImiloa on this exciting journey of discovery and growth at Halau ʻOkupu Play and Learn!

Member Admission: $20 (includes one child and supervising adult)

General Admission: $30 (includes one child and supervising adult)

Stop by the Keck Observatory booth for hot cocoa at the 65th Waimea Twilight Christmas Parade on Saturday, December 6, 2025, at 6p. This year’s theme is A Waimea Christmas Birthday Celebration.

The parade route is the same as last year and will begin with units leaving Waimea Park onto Kawaihae Road (across from Habitat for Humanity’s RESTORE), turning left onto Kawaihae Road, then right onto Lindsey Road to the main intersection. The parade will turn left onto Mamalahoa Hwy (Hwy 19), pass through the town center, turn right on Pukalani, right on Ala ʻOhia, and conclude at the Kalani Schutte Waimea District Park.

Spectators are asked to please stay on the sidewalk or grass and off the roadway; no open fires/barbecues/hibachis to prevent wildfires; and please do not throw candy from parade units for everyone’s safety!

Join the Shadow the Scientists initiative for an exciting special event as Bryce Bolin (Eureka Scientific), Laura-May Abron (Griffith Observatory), and Matthew Belyakov (Caltech) use the Gemini Observatory North to observe comet 3I/ATLAS, a rare interstellar object passing through our solar system!

As only the third confirmed visitor from beyond our solar neighborhood, 3I/ATLAS offers an extraordinary opportunity to study material that formed around another star. Ejected from its original system millions to billions of years ago, the comet recently entered our solar system from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, near the Milky Way’s galactic center.

In this special observing session, astronomers will attempt to capture some of the first post-perihelion observations of comet 3I/ATLAS, following its reemergence from behind the Sun. Building on Gemini South data from August, the team aims to detect chemical signatures in the gas it emits to learn about the comet’s composition, physical state, and evolution.

Supported by the Gemini North science and outreach staff and leading experts in comets and interstellar visitors, this event offers one of the closest looks yet of this enigmatic interstellar visitor!

Join ʻImiloa and planetarium guest speaker Hitoshi Murayama for “Subaru’s Prime Focus Spectrograph: A New Compound Eye Gazing at the Universe.” Dr. Murayama is a well-known theoretical particle physicist, professor of physics at UC Berkeley, and the founding director of the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU) at the University of Tokyo.

About the Talk:

Where do we come from? Where are we going? These questions are common to the entire humankind, and especially deeply rooted in Polynesian and East Asian cultures. We built a new $100M instrument to study these questions mounted on the Subaru telescope atop Maunakea. It will explore how stars and galaxies are born in the gravitational womb of dark matter. It will study how the universe has been expanding and where it is going, or whether it will end. These grand questions can be studied only thanks to the pristine environment and public support on Hawaiʻi Island. The prime focus spectrograph will have 2400 eyes on the universe to conduct these studies which would have taken 1000 years otherwise.

Join W.M. Keck Observatory for a free, ʻohana-friendly public astronomy talk with 5-time astronaut and astronomer Dr. John Grunsfeld on Thursday, November 13, at 7:00 p.m. at Kahilu Theatre in Waimea. Doors open at 6:45 p.m., and seating is first come. The Public Astronomy Talks at Keck Observatory are graciously sponsored by the Rob and Terry Ryan Foundation and are free and open to the public.

From the Hubble Space Telescope to the Habitable Worlds Observatory

The Hubble Space Telescope story has been a fascinating study in public policy, engineering, ethics, and science. The Hubble is perhaps the most productive scientific instrument ever created by humans. In May 2009, a team of astronauts flew to the Hubble Space Telescope on space shuttle Atlantis. On their 13-day mission and over the course of 5 spacewalks, they completed an extreme makeover of the orbiting observatory. They installed the Wide Field Camera-3, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, repaired the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, as well as a number of maintenance activities. These Hubble spacewalks are considered the most challenging and complex efforts ever of people working in space.

Now, 16 years later, the Hubble is still going strong. Building on the servicing heritage of Hubble, the Habitable Worlds Observatory is in the initial planning stages and promises to be a worthy successor to Hubble. As part of the design, the Habitable Worlds Observatory will be serviceable, albeit by robotic means. The adventures of Hubble servicing and the future Habitable Worlds Observatory will be presented in this talk.

Learners of all ages are invited to Kona Commons Shopping Center on Saturday, November 8, for an entertainment-filled day of astronomy and natural sciences. AstroDay Kona is a FREE, open-air event sponsored by the Maunakea Observatories. Join us for an interactive day of learning that will feature family-friendly activities, free giveaways, science demonstrations, and educational fun for all ages.

This year, attendees can use a solar telescope to safely view the surface of the sun, courtesy of the UH Institute for Astronomy, and keiki will be able to enter the Maunakea Coin Contest (open to grades K through 12)!

The Hawaiian Volcano Education & Resilience Institute will also be hosting a special activity called “Elephant Toothpaste,” where keiki will learn how trapped gas can lead to the differences between Hawaiian-style shield volcanoes and explosive, strata-type volcanoes.

Astronomy on Tap Hawai’i is back on November 6th from 7-9 pm at Hilo Town Tavern! We have two new amazing speakers: Felipe Olivares (Institute for Astronomy) and Jasmin Silva (CFHT), who will tell us about the cosmic surf report and how to take apart a 3.6m telescope. Come and join us for a fun night of astronomy and play in our quiz to win prizes!

This event is completely free and open to everyone.

'Imiloa's Halau 'Okupu Play and Learn is a unique Place-based and Play-Based Enrichment Program designed for keiki (Ages 1-4) along with a max of 2 caregivers per toddler.

‘Okupu refers to young sprouts or the new shoots of a plant sent out to grow. ʻImiloa invites parents and caregivers to come explore with their young sprouts in an environment that fosters learning through curiosity, exploration, and play! Through a variety of activities, including gross and small motor skill exercises, sensory exploration, dramatic play, movement activities, and arts and crafts, keiki are encouraged to actively engage while developing essential skills. These engaging experiences are specially developed to provide opportunities for keiki and their caregivers to foster stronger connections to their island home and community. Join ʻImiloa on this exciting journey of discovery and growth at Halau 'Okupu Play and Learn!

Member Admission: $20 (includes one child and supervising adult)

General Admission: $30 (includes one child and supervising adult)

Get ready for a spooky and spectacular time at this year’s Halloween event, where the spotlight is on Hawai‘i’s native, endemic, and invasive insects! Join us for a fun-filled evening of interactive games, creative crafts, and hands-on educational activities that bring to life the vital role bugs play in our island ecosystems. Whether you're crawling with curiosity or just looking for some family-friendly Halloween fun, this event is sure to entertain, engage, and inspire a new appreciation for Hawai‘i’s tiniest – and most important – creatures. Come celebrate the creepy, the crawly, and the crucial this Halloween!

Member Admission: $10 (4 and under free)

General Admission: $16 (4 and under free)

ʻImiloa proudly introduces Halau ʻOkupu Play and Learn, a unique Place-based and Play-Based Enrichment Program designed for keiki (Ages 1-4), along with a max of 2 caregivers per toddler. ʻOkupu refers to young sprouts or the new shoots of a plant sent out to grow. ʻImiloa invites parents and caregivers to come explore with their young sprouts in an environment that fosters learning through curiosity, exploration, and play!

Through a variety of activities, including gross and small motor skill exercises, sensory exploration, dramatic play, movement activities, and arts and crafts, keiki are encouraged to actively engage while developing essential skills. These engaging experiences are specially developed to provide opportunities for keiki and their caregivers to foster stronger connections to their island home and community.

Member Admission: $20 (includes one child and supervising adult)

General Admission: $30 (includes one child and one supervising adult)