MEDIA RELEASE

The W. M. Keck Observatory’s mission is to advance the frontiers of astronomy and share our discoveries with the world. Today that mission extends to sharing the creativity of some of tomorrow’s explorers who recently sat down to write their thoughts about space and astronomy as haiku poems for the Keck Observatory Astro Haiku Contest.

All entries were composed by children on the spot at the Keck booth at the Astro Day event May 7 in Hilo. The poems span topics such matters as celestial navigation, black holes, space exploration and alien life.

“It’s impressive that these kids can stop in the middle of a busy shopping center and compose such thoughtful poetry about space,” said Keck astronomer Marc Kassis, a judge of the contest. “I was impressed by their creativity.”

Haiku is a three line poem, with the first line having a total of five syllables, the second line having seven and the third line having five. The only other requirement was an astronomical theme.

Winners receive a year subscription to an age-appropriate science magazine.

Here are the winning entries and runners up:

4-6 Years Category:

The moon is so bright
The stars are twinkling tonight
Makes me smile so much
– Micah Timbresa (6), Hilo

Micah will receive a year subscription to Click magazine

7-10 Years Category:

Stars shine bright at night
They show me direction too
I can follow it
– Kameanani Miyasaki (8), Hilo

Kameanani will receive a year subscription to Ask magazine

11-13 Years Category:

– Grace Morita (12), Hilo

Grace will receive a year subscription to Odyssey magazine

14-18 Years Category:

A connect-the-dots
Activity far away
In the midnight sky
– Leo Tanaka-Lee (14), Keaau

Leo will receive a year subscription to Astronomy magazine

Runners up:

A star and a Earth
Planetarium is fun
The Moon has a bug
– Dustin Sumitani (4), Hilo

Days end begins with
The end of the Sun’s flight and
A bright starlit night
– Logan Sato, (12) Hilo

Orion’s belt shine
Constellation of hunter
Injures Scorpius
– Logan Kuniyuki, (9) Hilo

Glowing sphere of light
The Moon shining in the night
Always there for me
– Emerson Aynessazian (9), Pahoa

Looking in the night
I dream of alien life
Do you think it’s real?
– Brieann Yoshiwa (9), Hilo

The W. M. Keck Observatory operates two 10-meter optical/infrared telescopes on the summit of Mauna Kea. The twin telescopes feature a suite of advanced instruments including imagers, multi-object spectrographs, high-resolution spectrographs, integral-field spectroscopy and a world-leading laser guide star adaptive optics system which cancels out much of the interference caused by Earth’s turbulent atmosphere.

The Observatory is a private 501(c) 3 organization and a scientific partnership of the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and NASA.