Imaginarium Manager Shares Space Adventure With Earthlings
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After spending the last seven years at the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope observatory on the summit of Mauna Kea, Mary Beth Laychak had shifted to lower altitude by taking the job of managing WCC’s Hokulani Imaginarium.
Laychak is excited to educate both students (in WCC classes starting in 2012) and adults about astronomy.
“The Imaginarium is an important facet to our community because it offers enrichment to school groups and the general public.
“Students learn about astronomical concepts like eclipses and planets, but are constrained in classrooms,” she explained. “It offers the students the ability to see the concepts they’ve learned, and it shows why eclipses are rare occurrences and why we see different constellations at different times of the year.
“Astronomy comes alive for them.”
For a girl who grew up loving everything about science-fiction, Laychak always has been intrigued by space exploration. “As I grew up I didn’t realize that someone could be an astronomer. Once I was in college I took an astronomy class and decided to switch my major.” She earned a bachelor’s degree in astronomy and astrophysics from Pennsylvania State and got her master’s in educational technology from San Diego State before accepting the service observer position at CFHT.
A creative educator, Laychak incorporated the sweet taste of baked goods into her latest public talk, “Asteroids: A to Z,” which covered general facts about asteroids, including Vesta, which in 2007 had its brightest appearance in the sky since 1989.
“To demonstrate the different types of compositions, I prepared an activity called ‘Edible Asteroids.’ The audience was given photos of asteroids of various compositions and was asked to compare them to ‘samples,’ and then we discussed the corrected answers.”
Hokulani Imaginarium offers three public shows each month, including Stargazing, Earth, Moon and Sun and Astronaut, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of manned space flight. General admission is $7, with discounts for children, seniors, military and students. For more information, call 235-7433 or visit aerospace.wcc.hawaii.edu/imaginarium.html.
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