Pan-STARRS in the Media
Dec. 20, 2016: Stellar panorama revealed – Millions of images are stitched together over 4 years for epic snapshot.
Nov. 2, 2016: NASA’s New Asteroid Alert System Gives 5 Whole Days of Warning – Scout was able to give us 5 days notice of an approaching asteroid. … System (
Jun. 16, 2016: Newly Discovered Asteroid is Earth’s Companion
Astronomers at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa’s Institute for Astronomy discovered a small asteroid that has been in an orbit around the sun that keeps it as a constant companion of Earth. The asteroid, designated 2016 HO3, was detected in April by the Pan-STARRS telescope on Haleakala, and subsequent research into Pan-STARRS archives revealed faint images of it as far back as 2011.
April 29, 2016: Back From The Deep Freeze: A Piece Of The Early Solar System Returns
Astronomers have found a unique object that appears to be made of inner Solar System material from the time of Earth’s formation, which has been preserved in the Oort Cloud for billions of years. Originally identified by the University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS1 telescope, C/2014 S3 (PANSTARRS) is a weakly active comet a little over twice as far from the Sun as the Earth. Its current long orbital period (around 860 years) suggests that its source is in the Oort Cloud, and it was nudged comparatively recently into an orbit that brings it closer to the Sun.
Sept. 15, 2015: Pan-STARRS Chases Source of LIGO Gravity Wave Event
The email came in the night on Sept 15, 2015. A significant event had happened at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, or LIGO, during their engineering run. A ripple in spacetime had occurred somewhere in the universe. But where? LIGO had not yet started their formal observing run, and with only two Gravity Wave detectors, they could not pinpoint where in the sky, amongst billions and billions of galaxies, the source of this disturbance had occurred.
If “sparks” fly when black holes merge then a new point of light will be seen in the sky. Pan-STARRS, with its powerful surveying capability, can rapidly map the region of the sky identified by LIGO, compare it to the previous map, and find anything that has changed.
July 15, 2013: Pan-STARRS Discovers Close-Approaching Near-Earth Asteroid
On July 15, 2013, the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope on Haleakalā discovered an asteroid about the size of a football field that will make its closest approach to Earth—at a distance about 11 times that of the Moon—on July 22.
Pan-STARRS Telescope Discovers Ten Thousandth Near-Earth Object
More than 10,000 asteroids and comets that can pass near Earth have now been discovered. The 10,000th near-Earth object, asteroid 2013 MZ5, was first detected on the night of June 18, 2013, by the Pan-STARRS-1 telescope, located on the 10,000-foot (convert) summit of the Haleakala crater on Maui. Managed by the University of Hawaii, the PanSTARRS survey receives NASA funding.
Honolulu Star Advertiser, February 25 2011
–Maui Telescope spots 19 near-Earth asteroids
Maui Weekly, February 24 2011
-Maui Finds its Place in Space
Hawaii News Now, February 21, 2011
-Killer Asteroids
ABC network, Australia June 2010
-Interview with Nick Kaiser
Macleans, Canada June 25 2009
-Look Out Below! A new telescope system will keep watch for killer asteroids from space.
Maui News September 1 2008
– Impact Objects, and Is there another “big one” out there?
Optics News: October 2007
-Gigapixel Camera searches the skies
Honolulu Star-Bulletin September 22 2007
-Maui Telescope sharpens eye on universe
also here and here
BBC March 13 2007
– Firm’s lens eyes killer asteroids
Honolulu Advertiser: January 26 2007
– No Plan, No Scopes
seee also Honolulu Star Bulletin
Honolulu Star Bulletin: January 24 2007
– Ex-UH scientist has plan to avert asteroid catastrophe
see also Xinhua (China) and CBC (Canada)
Honolulu Star Bulletin: January 11 2007
– Asteroid Tracker Due for Isles
see also Honolulu Advertiser and Maui News
The JHU Gazette: October 16 2006
– JHU Joins Consortium for Powerful New Telescope
The Northern Echo: October 10 2006
– Prepare to meteor maker
Maui News: October 9 2006
– Cosmologists of world want Pan-STARRS
BBC News: October 9 2006
– UK to join ‘killer’ asteroid hunt
Honolulu Star Bulletin October 8 2006
– Maui telescope draws star partners
Honolulu Advertiser: Odtober 4 2006
– Astronomers sign up for Haleakala project
Sky and Telescope: September 2006
– The times they are a changin’
Honolulu Advertiser: August 18 2006
-Combing the cosmos for killers
MSNBC August: 17 2006
-Task force to monitor asteroid threats
The Independent: 20 July 2006
– Asteroid impacts: can we keep Armageddon at bay?
The Register: 28 June, 2006
-Killer asteroid hunter takes first snaps
New Scientist: June 27, 2006
– New telescope will hunt dangerous asteroids
de Volkskrant: June 24, 2006
– Op wacht tegen armageddon
Honolulu Advertiser: March 24 2006
– New class of comets could the source of Earth’s water
Honolulu Star Bulletin: February 8 2006
– UH-Hilo joins asteroid hunt
see also West Hawaii Today
The Oklahoman: January 3 2006
– New telescope will search for threats to life on Earth
New Scientist: December 23, 2005
– NASA to hunt smaller Earth-threatening asteroids
MSNBC: December 21 2005
– Telescope system to scan for asteroid threats
see also Space-com
Honolulu Advertiser: November 5 2005
– Telescope will seek harmful asteroids
Nature: June 23 2005
– Dynamic Universe
Article by Freeman Dyson about Fritz Zwicky which links Pan-STARRS to Zwicky’s pioneering work on sky surveys.
Honolulu Advertiser – June 20, 2004
– Maui telescope work to start
Honolulu Star Bulletin – April 25, 2004
– Coming soon: Asteroid hunters
The IfA Press release announcing Pan-STARRS – Oct. 8, 2002
Hilo Tribune-Herald – Oct. 8, 2002
– New telescope to scan for asteroids
Honolulu Star Bulletin – Oct. 9, 2002
– UH enlisted to spot `killer asteroids’
Honolulu Advertiser – Oct. 9, 2002
– UH scopes to search for ‘killer’ asteroids
Honolulu Advertiser – Oct. 10, 2002
– UH astronomy can blow away asteroids
Honolulu Advertiser – Oct. 10, 2002
– Dick Adair’s editorial cartoon
Honolulu Advertiser – Oct . 25, 2002
– Letter to the Editor
WEB REPORTS
BBC News: October 9 2006
– UK to join ‘killer’ asteroid hunt
Photonics.com – Mar 15 2006
– Barr Filters used in Pan-STARRS
U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Science Report: – Oct. 3, 2002
– The Threat of Near-Earth Asteroids
Space Ref – Oct. 8, 2002
– Astronomers to Develop New Telescopes for “Killer Asteroid”
Space.com – Oct. 9, 2002
– Risk of Small Asteroid Strikes Lowered
Space News (Russian) Oct. 10, 2002