Epic Journey Through the Universe Observes 22 Years!

Republished from NOIRLab, the U.S. National Science Foundation's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, where it first appeared as a press release on 2026-02-09. NOIRLab press-release texts and images are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence; the text is reproduced here unchanged apart from formatting. Credit: NOIRLab. Read the original for the latest version and any updates.

Journey Through the Universe — a partnership between the Hawaiʻi Department of Education Hilo-Waiākea Complex Area and the International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab, funded in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation — celebrates 22 years of cosmic exploration with Hawai‘i students. This year’s exciting program included classroom presentations, career panels, and public events!

Hawai‘i Island’s largest astronomy education program, Journey Through the Universe (Journey), hosted its 22nd year of classroom visits, career panels, and community events in one fun-filled week, 2–6 February 2026 (Spring Journey Week). Throughout this week, 46 volunteer educators from NSF NOIRLab, Maunakea Observatories, NASA, various universities, and more shared stellar hands-on experiences at our local schools and inspired students to explore science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) in classrooms ranging from 2nd to 12th grade. This year’s program reached over 3000 students.

The International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab and the Department of Education Hilo-Waiākea Complex Area partner every year to bring the goals of Journey Through the Universe to life, endeavoring to foster curiosity about our Universe, create awareness about diverse careers, and share the cutting-edge research and technology taking place on Maunakea.

Spring Journey Week kicked off on 31 January with an exclusive stargazing event, co-hosted with the Center for Maunakea Stewardship, at Hale Pōhaku for Hilo-Waiākea teachers, students, and families. The evening opened with traditional Hawaiian protocol for entering sacred space led by Leilehua Yuen, Hawaiʻi Culture and Language Resident at Gemini/NOIRLab. As the Moon rose over nearby Puʻu ʻŌʻō, attendees peered through telescopes and listened to a variety of star stories told by Yuen and Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan, Tohono O'odham Nation Education Development Liaison at NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory/NOIRLab in Arizona.

“Creating safe and engaging spaces for ʻohana to immerse themselves in cultural and scientific learning is critical to our work at Gemini,” says Leinani Lozi, Hawaiʻi Education and Engagement Manager at Gemini/NOIRLab. “For some keiki and makua, this is their first time seeing the details in the craters of the Moon. For others, this is the first time hearing the story of ʻIole saving Makahiki. And for nearly all of us, it was the first time we learned the Tohono Oʻodham story of Coyote creating the Milky Way.”

On Monday, 2 February, Spring Journey Week began in earnest with classroom visits and career panels at our 13 Hilo-Waiākea public schools. Sage Constantinou, a PhD student at the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy and Waiākea High School alumnus, visited a classroom of 4th graders at Waiākeawaena Elementary and taught students about spectroscopy and rainbows. Later that evening, a Journey Welcome Reception was held at the Gemini North Hilo Base Facility. The event was co-hosted by the Hawaiʻi Island Chamber of Commerce and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Hawaiʻi.

On Tuesday, 3 February, Justine Schean, Arizona Education and Engagement Manager at NOIRLab, taught keiki how to build their own little robots with paper clips and batteries at De Silva Elementary. The activity highlighted the extensive amount of engineering and technical skills needed at ground-based observatories and emphasized the complexity of controlling unmanned rovers on other planets.

On Wednesday, 4 February, ʻImiloa Astronomy Center hosted a special screening of the NOIRLab-produced planetarium show Messengers of Time and Space. This film explores the scientific synergies between traditional astronomy with telescopes like those on Maunakea, which rely on observations of light, and multi-messenger astronomy, which utilizes “invisible messengers” like gravitational waves observed by NSF LIGO. The screening was followed by a panel conversation with astronomers who discussed the show and the future of astronomy.

“We’re very excited to support the Journey program this year,” said Devin Chu, Astronomer in Residence at ʻImiloa. _“_Journey helped foster my career in astronomy as a student at Hilo High, and I’m honored to contribute to its ongoing legacy.”

This year’s Journey program hosted not only the Spring Journey Week but, for the first time, also included a Fall Journey Week that took place from 20–24 October 2025. And in another exciting first, the 22nd iteration of Journey will include field trips for high school students to the Gemini North Telescope on Maunakea in March and April of 2026.