University of Hawaii astronomer Alan Tokunaga will discuss “Telescopes Big and Small” at the next Open House Night in Astronomy at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College.
Tokunaga’s nontechnical presentation will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 17, in 101 Otto Behrend Science Building. It is free and open to the public and will be followed by astronomical viewing using the telescope in the college’s Mehalso Observatory, weather permitting.
“While the newest large telescopes garner much of the press coverage, mid-size telescopes, or those less than four meters (13 feet) in diameter continue to be major contributors to astronomical research,” Tokunaga said. “I’ll discuss the increase of telescope aperture from the creation of Galileo’s first instrument in 1609 to the present, when construction of telescopes as large as 30 meters (100 feet) in diameter is planned.”
Tokunaga is division chief for the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, a three meter telescope at Hawaii’s Mauna Kea Observatory dedicated to planetary science and mission support. His primary research is the study of low-luminosity objects in star formation regions that may become either stars or brown dwarfs, and collaboration with astrochemists to analyze laboratory analogs of carbonaceous materials in the interstellar medium.
Open House Nights in Astronomy are a public outreach program of the School of Science at Penn State Erie. They are suitable for children 8 years and older. For additional information, phone the school at (814) 898-6105.