March 31, 2026
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)
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.
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 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.
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 are Yannie Cheng, Akiyele Gilbert, Oliver Kangwai, and Atlas Syncatto.
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.
Orion Nebula, located about 1,350-1,500 light-years away from Earth.
Messier 81, a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major.
Messier 51a, known as the Whirlpool Galaxy, an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy 31 million light-years away from Earth.
Read the full story at UH Hilo Stories.
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