June 5, 2012, Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii

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NASA EDGE is proud to join forces with the Sun Earth Day Team to celebrate the Transit of Venus! On June 5, 2012, we will air a live ‘remote’ webcast from Mauna Kea, Hawaii, through our partnership with the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy. The event will not be visible from the continental U.S. in its entirety. A mountainside Visitors Station site near the observatories in Hilo, Hawaii will give a wonderful view of the entire transit with little chance of cloud cover to a worldwide audience. Leveraging our partnership with the University of Hawaii in Hilo will enable us to bring you real-time images of the transit for the duration of the event in various wavelengths of light.

This webcast will also emphasize the history and importance of Hawaiian astronomy and its connections to NASA space science. It will use the backdrop of Mauna Kea, combined with world class University of Hawaii (UH), NASA scientists and Hawaiian cultural leaders to weave multigenerational stories combining ancient ways of knowing with modern scientific discoveries. The University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy is a premier astronomical research facility and host to the Mauna Kea Observatory, one of the most important observational astronomy sites in the world. Mauna Kea is a unique astronomical research facility, emphasizing respect for Hawaiian cultural beliefs, as well as protection of environmentally sensitive habitats. The exceptional stability of the atmosphere above Mauna Kea permits more detailed studies than are possible elsewhere, while its distance from city lights and a strong island-wide lighting ordinance ensure an extremely dark sky, allowing observation of the faintest galaxies that lie at the very edge of the observable Universe.