UH Hilo astronomy student and professor attend 2025 Submillimeter Array Interferometry School

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo astronomy student Angela Clairbourn and astronomy professor Marianne Takamiya attended the 2025 Submillimeter Array (SMA) Interferometry School Jan. 6-10 in Hilo, finishing up with a trip to Maunakea.

The school used the Submillimeter Array and its new capabilities to create a hands-on experience for participants to actively perform observations and data reduction for their own proposed projects. The workshop also provided a series of lectures on the fundamentals of radio interferometry with a special emphasis on observations at (sub)millimeter wavelengths.

Takamiya is a UH Hilo professor of physics and astronomy, and co-chair of the department. She notes that Clairbourn was the only undergraduate attendee among graduate students from all over the world, including the United States, China, and Europe.

“Angela was able to use SMA data and generate an image in radio frequencies of an interacting galaxy and study the motion of the gas in the galaxy,” says Prof. Takamiya.

Organized by the Center for Astrophysics (a collaboration of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and Harvard College Observatory), in conjunction with the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the University of Hawaiʻi, the goal of the Submillimeter Array Interferometry School is to provide a broad knowledge of interferometry and data reduction techniques at (sub)millimeter wavelengths for graduate students, postdocs, and scientists outside the field of sub-mm interferometry.

Read full article and view photos at UH Hilo Stories