Astrophotos! UH Hilo astronomy students capture dazzling images from atop Maunakea

Posted on March 30, 2026April 8, 2026 by Staff

Students taking an astronomy course on galactic and extragalactic astrophysics traveled up Maunakea, telescopes in tow, to capture images of galaxies for the lab portion of their class.

Student and professor set up telescope in the evening; students and professor set up at their field station at night; image that the students took of galaxy, a burst of white light with pink vapors emanating. — An astronomy lab class takes a field trip up Maunakea on March 6, 2026 to capture images of galaxies. Top left, astronomy professor Pierre Martin and educational specialist Joben Sasis install the tripod and mount for a Celestron telescope. Bottom left, under the night sky, lab students and Prof. Martin wait and monitor the telescope as it takes repeated exposures of the galaxies above. At right, image of the Orion Nebula captured by the students using a smaller automated telescope. (Photos, respectively: Samantha Dane/UH Hilo Stories; Joben Sasis/Dept. of Physics and Astronomy/UH Hilo; and Lab Team/Dept. of Physics and Astronomy/UH Hilo).

By Samantha Dane/UH Hilo Stories.
Editor’s note: Student writer Samantha Dane accompanied an astronomy lab class on the evening of March 6 up to the Maunakea Visitors Center (9,200ft/2,804m elevation), where the lab students with their professor and technician set up telescopes just before dark outside the center and then spent hours braving the frigid temperatures collecting their data.

A group of University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo students taking an astronomy course this semester on galactic and extragalactic astrophysics (ASTR 351) travel up Maunakea with telescopes in tow. The objective of the field trip is to capture images of galaxies as a part of their research into galaxy formation for the lab portion of the class.

Joben Sasis casual portrait with ocean in background. — Joben Sasis (File photo)

Pierre Martin business portrait in aloha short, near telescope. — Pierre Martin (File photo)

The 300-level course is taught by Pierre Martin, professor physics and astronomy and chair of the department.

“The goal [of the trip] is to observe four or five galaxies of different shapes and types, and then to make a series of measurements to quantify these differences,” says Prof. Martin.

Assisting with the equipment set up and technology aspects of the field trip is Joben Sasis, educational specialist at the physics and astronomy department. Students in the lab are Yannie Cheng, Akiyele Gilbert, and Oliver Kangwai. Physics and astronomy major Atlas Syncatto, a junior not enrolled in the lab class, joined the group to gain field experience with a new type of telescope not previously used in the lab.

The field lab helps the students achieve the aim of the course, which is to study the formation and form of the Milky Way and its surrounding galaxies, as well as learn how these forms have shifted over time. Students use existing data from observatories along with their own data (collected from this trip) to better understand the physics of these galaxies.

This visit to the 9,200-foot elevation, just outside the Maunakea Visitors Center, is a repeat attempt from the week before. The last lab trip didn’t go according to plan a couple weeks ago due to some unexpected weather. Fog and telescopes don’t mix, it turns out.

Setup and preparation

The students are using two portable Celestron telescopes for their observation, the preparation for which started weeks in advance on campus. Much of this preparation involves installing parts of the telescope such as the camera, filter wheel, guiding assembly, and spacers for focusing. Students also test the software to ensure the telescopes function well in the field. This is an important step, as it ensures the telescopes will be able to properly locate and photograph the galaxies they want using the software at hand.

Once on the mountain, the next step is selecting a spot to observe from, keeping in mind the surrounding landscape and light pollution.

Students then unload an entire SUV’s worth of equipment and begin the lengthy process of reassembling the two telescopes, starting with the tripod mount, telescope, camera, counterweight for the massive lens, and guiding system. Finally, the computers used to operate them are connected. All together, the telescopes are around the size of a person and take many hands to operate and ensure everything runs smoothly.

Students and professor work on setting up the telescope. It's still daylight and the environment is dry and rocky with a few trees and bushes. Four red chairs are set up to the side. — In the field lab, from left, student Akiyele Gilbert, Professor Pierre Martin (back to camera), and students Yannie Cheng and Oliver Kangwai assemble the larger Celestron telescope on the slopes of Maunakea. (Photo: Samantha Dane/UH Hilo Stories)

Students and professor work on setting up the telescope. It's still daylight and the environment is dry and rocky with a few trees and bushes. — In the field lab, from left, students Akiyele Gilbert and Yannie Cheng, Professor Pierre Martin, and student Oliver Kangwai assemble the larger Celestron telescope on the slopes of Mauna Kea. In the right background is the smaller Celestron telescope used for the first time in a field lab. (Photo: Samantha Dane/UH Hilo Stories)

Professor and tech help set up tripod. — On the lab field trip up Maunakea on March 6, 2026, astronomy professor Pierre Martin (left) and educational specialist Joben Sasis install the tripod and mount for a Celestron telescope. (Photo: Samantha Dane, UH Hilo Stories)

Students help set up tripod. A laptop computer sits on a table in the foreground. — The fully assembled Celestron telescope equipped with filters for more advanced imaging. From left, student Akiyele Gilbert, educational specialist Joben Sasis, and student Yannie Cheng. (Photo: Samantha Dane/UH Hilo Stories)

Laptops are set up on the outdoor table, professor is working on one of the laptops. — Professor Martin and student Akiyele Gilbert work out the specifics of the computer software connected to the telescope before dark, part of the calibration process. (Photo: Samantha Dane/UH Hilo Stories)

Small telescope on a tripod set up on a blue tarp. — The astronomy lab team set up two portable Celestron telescopes for their observation run up Maunakea on March 6, 2026. This is the smaller automatic smart telescope used for the first time in a UH Hilo lab. (Photo: Samantha Dane/UH Hilo Stories)

Telescope set up on tripod, and laptop computer on table. — The fully assembled Celestron telescope set up for the field lab is equipped with filters for more advanced imaging. (Photo: Samantha Dane/UH Hilo Stories)

Next comes the calibration stage. The cameras on the telescopes responsible for imaging are aligned to an approximate location prior to sunset, and several calibrations are taken to improve the final image quality as the sun goes down. It’s a windy evening on the mauna, which makes this process more difficult than it should be. Telescopes and wind don’t go well together either, it turns out.

Even after the sun goes down, the prep work continues for a little longer. Students must ensure the telescope can point and track the movements of the stars through the night. Once they’re sure the telescope is fully calibrated, the observation can finally begin.

Let the observation run begin!

Prof. Martin and two students dressed in warm clothing, stand near a table with a laptop, the telescope on a tripod out in front of them. The dark sky is filled with stars. — Under the night sky, from left, students Yannie Cheng and Oliver Kangwai with Prof. Martin wait and monitor the telescope as it takes repeated exposures of the galaxies above. (Photo: Joben Sasis/Dept. of Physics and Astronomy/UH Hilo)

Professor and student at table with laptop, dark starry sky above. — Bundled up in warm clothing, the research team monitors the telescope. (Photo: Joben Sasis/Dept. of Physics and Astronomy/UH Hilo)

Student and professor monitor telescope. They are bundled up in warm clothing. — Student Akiyele Gilbert and Prof. Martin continue their monitoring late into the night. (Photo: Joben Sasis/Dept. of Physics and Astronomy/UH Hilo)

Student near telescope, dark skies with stars above. — Student Akiyele Gilbert stands near telescope during observation run. (Photo: Joben Sasis/Dept. of Physics and Astronomy/UH Hilo)

Professor at the table with the laptop computer and screen showing the telescope's view. — Prof. Martin at the table with laptop and screen of telescope’s capture. (Photo: Joben Sasis/Dept. of Physics and Astronomy/UH Hilo)

Laptop and full screen view of what the telescope is capturing. — Computer equipment records images captured by telescope. (Photo: Joben Sasis/Dept. of Physics and Astronomy/UH Hilo)

Once the telescope is focused, a sequence of consecutive exposures are taken.

“Typically, we would do 30-45 minutes in total for one filter,” says Prof. Martin. The wind only adds to this time, as exposures can be lost from wind shaking the telescope. The students rotate between filters for each galaxy, which can be a real test of patience when monitoring the telescopes in the frigid air. It’s difficult, time consuming work, but the end result is worth it.

A bright white light in deep space with emanating vapor-looking pink clouds. — Here are three full color images captured by students with the smaller automated telescope. Above is the Orion Nebula, located about 1,350-1,500 light-years away from Earth. (Image: Dept. of Physics and Astronomy/UH Hilo)

A spiral galaxy in deep space. — This is Messier 81, a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. (Image: Dept. of Physics and Astronomy/UH Hilo)

Two spiraling galaxies very close to each other, in deep space with stars dotted around. — This is Messier 51a, known as the Whirlpool Galaxy, an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy 31 million light-years away from Earth. (Image: Dept. of Physics and Astronomy/UH Hilo)

The main reason behind using filters is to gain a better understanding of the galaxies based on their color. Many galaxies are either blue or red, and these colors reflect their characteristics, such as the rate of star formation within them.

The color of a galaxy can provide other important insight into its chemical composition and formation as well, and filters help the group to quantify and establish what colors the galaxies are. For example, some colors will appear brighter in a red filter than a blue one or vice versa, and this same concept is applied to the galaxies they image.

“This is why we used a set of three filters with the camera on the portable telescopes, to be able to quantify the color in function of different galaxies observed,” Martin says, as each one filters light differently and allows them to parse out what the galaxies are made of.

The team also utilizes a secondary smaller and fully automated telescope that images the galaxies without a filter, resulting in the traditional full color picture. Like the larger telescope, this one too takes repeated exposures to build up a full image.

The value of field lab experience

Two students set up telescope on tripod. — From left, students Atlas Syncatto and Oliver Kangwai set up telescope on tripod before dark. In the background are student Akiyele Gilbert and Professor Martin setting up the computers. (Photo: Samantha Dane/UH Hilo Stories)

This type of field lab provides students with valuable and very transferable skills in the field of astronomy. Despite using only small telescopes in the lab, Martin says “their instrumentation and the techniques involved are very similar to what is done on the big [telescopes] so it’s very good training for the students.”

Atlas Syncatto, the junior majoring in physics and astronomy but not enrolled in the lab class, joined in the observation run to gain field experience with the smaller smart telescope as it was the first time the lab was trying it out. After graduation, Syncatto hopes to work at a Maunakea observatory as a telescope operator. This is an example of how the lab acts as a small-scale version of how larger observatory telescopes work, and UH Hilo as a whole acts as a pipeline to work at the highly advanced observatories, such as the ones further up Maunakea.

“It’s also a great chance to go up and observe and see all the beautiful stars,” says lab student Oliver Kangwai.

Getting the field experience even with smaller telescopes goes a long way for students, and it turns out the images they’re able to capture are just as beautiful as you’d expect after a hard night’s work. Color this reporter impressed!

Story by Samantha Dane, a biology major at UH Hilo.

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