Kids to benefit from
Gemini Observatory

Hilo and Chilean children get to study
stars from a pair of portable planetariums

Star-Bulletin staff

HILO -- Children in Hilo and La Serena, Chile, will be able to study stars in an inflatable, walk-in planetarium, thanks to efforts of the Gemini Observatory project which has giant telescopes near both locations, the observatory has announced.

Details on the portable StarLab planetariums are to be described during videoconference ceremonies Monday, when the sister-city relationship between Hawaii County and La Serena, in effect since 1995, will be renewed.

The mayors and selected school children of the municipalities will participate in the invitation-only ceremonies at Gemini headquarters at University Park of the University of Hawaii-Hilo.

Gemini spokesman Peter Michaud said a 25-foot-wide StarLab planetarium on extended loan from the UH-Hilo Conference Center is already in use here.

A second will be bought for Chile, and money is being sought for part-time staff to run them.

Construction of the Big Island Gemini telescope is complete, and testing of it is under way. Construction of the Chilean twin telescope is expected to be completed next year.