See the Transit of Venus—the last one in your lifetime!
DISCOVER HAWAII
This year, travel with The Planetary Society!
June 4-12, 2012

Dear Friends:
We invite you to join us in 2012, as we explore the greatest place on Earth to view our solar system, and see the Transit of Venus, one of the fascinating astronomical events of our lifetime!

On June 5-6, 2012, the planet Venus will be perfectly lined up with the Earth and Sun, so that we can see Venus slowly cross the Sun! This fascinating phenomenon has sparked travel to the remote corners of the globe including the great voyage of Captain Cook in 1778. Now we can see the Transit of Venus across the face of the Sun (it won’t happen again for more than 100 years!).

On this expedition, we will introduce the natural wonders of Hawaii—from lava flows to massive tree ferns. We will also show you some of the observatories which generate an enormous amount of information about our solar system, galaxies, black holes, and beyond!

In Hawaii, earth’s forces create new land right before our eyes, as lava streams forth from volcanoes rising 33,000 feet from the ocean floor. The Pacific is home to a profusion of life—from whales to sea turtles, colorful birds and endemic flowers, many of which we can see walking trails.

More than a thousand years ago, indigenous people followed the stars across the Pacific from Tahiti to settle Hawaii, and brought Polynesian culture with them. In recent centuries, European explorers followed the same stars across the Pacific and discovered Tahiti, Hawaii, and New Zealand!

Our journey will begin in Kailua-Kona—on the dry side of the Big Island of Hawaii—where old black ribbons of lava flow to the sea. We will visit Galaxy Garden, inspired by planetary artist Jon Lomberg, with a botanic scale model of the Milky Way Galaxy. Sit on the grassy slope facing the west and watch the Transit of Venus.

We’ll cross the island between the two largest volcanoes on Hawaii, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. En route, we’ll visit the W.M. Keck Observatory headquarters near the famous Parker Ranch to learn about their discoveries. We will drive to the summit of Mauna Kea, at 13,796 feet, and see sunset from the mountain top near some of the world’s largest observatories. We will return to Onizuka Visitor Center to look through telescopes at the wonders of the universe as seen from 19ºN latitude.

At Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, we will see ancient lava formations which built the island and hot molten lava that is flowing to the sea.

At the world class ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii we will explore the Hawaiian cultural and navigational understanding of the stars with real-time information obtained from the 13 telescopes on the Big Island.

Throughout our journey, we will enjoy leadership by a
Hawaii naturalist and guest astronomical experts.

We invite travelers with an appetite for adventure and
discovery to explore the day and night wonderland of our 50th state during this last opportunity in our lifetime to see the Transit of Venus.

Sincerely,
Bill Nye, The Science Guy®
Executive Director

$3,495 plus air.

Brochure (Requires an Adobe pdf reader to view)