The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo’s co-produced 3D planetarium series, Awesome Light Trilogy, is now distributed in eight countries and translated in six languages.
“Audiences feel as if they are standing inside the observatories of Mauna Kea and could reach out and touch the telescopes. It is the closest thing to being an astronomer working on the mountain,” said Shawn Laatsch, ʻImiloa’s planetarium manager. Laatsch led the film crew and directed the productions.
Awesome Light Trilogy
Awesome Light 1: Big Mirrors on the Mountain gives audiences insight into the latest discoveries taking place on Mauna Kea and explores the largest optical and infrared observatories on the mountain.
Awesome Light 2: Seeing the Invisible takes the audience to Mauna Kea and the radio and submillimeter observatories located there. Viewers see the remnants of a comet collision with Jupiter using the Smithsonian Submillimeter Array, fly into the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy and see gas flows from James Clerk Maxwell Telescope and more.
Awesome Light 3: Chasing Celestial Mysteries examines how near-Earth asteroids are explored with the NASA IRTF and hear the personal stories of discovery and inspiration from Hawaiian students using the 糖心Vlog官方 Hilo Hōkū Kea telescope.
Adapted from the February 2013 edition of 糖心Vlog官方 Hilo’s faculty and staff newspaper, Ka Lono Hanakahi, Download to read the full story.