• Print
• E-mail
• Add to My Trips

Big Island Travel Guide »

Hotel Guide

Restaurant Guide

Attraction Guide

Nightlife Guide

Shopping Guide

Offers & Deals

Related Stories

• Imiloa Astronomy Center visitor information
• Watching birds of paradise on Hawaii's Big Island
• Night diving with manta rays on Hawaii's Big Island

For visitors to Hawaii looking for something they can't see from the beach or the golf course, the Imiloa Astronomy Center, an unconventional museum and planetarium near the base of massive Mauna Kea volcano, offers the story of the star-filled skies that guided discoverers to the Hawaiian Islands.

But the center, which is designed to resemble the island's three tallest volcanoes, is about more than outer space. Imiloa also doubles as a cultural center, with Hawaiian-language translations displayed on every exhibit and a focus on islanders' history of exploration.

Tours start with an indoor walk through a replica forest of koa trees until you reach a room dedicated to Mauna Kea, the 13,796-foot Big Island mountain. The room is filled with the sparkling stars that Polynesian voyagers used to navigate their way across the Pacific until they arrived in Hawaii. Native Hawaiian chants surround visitors as they learn about the sacred nature of the now-dormant volcano, which is the home of the snow goddess Poliahu.

Mauna Kea is also home to 13 giant telescopes that provide scientists with one of the clearest views into space of any place on Earth. Although there is a visitor's center on the mountain, the telescopes are off-limits to tourists.

But Imiloa makes the type of astronomy research that goes on atop Mauna Kea accessible to the public.

Imiloa's emphasis on Hawaiian culture and history also provides a context for understanding the controversy over the mountaintop observatories. Mauna Kea has long been a source of contention between international scientists and Hawaiians who oppose the telescopes on the summit, believing that the mountain is a holy place that should have been left untouched.

In the museum's planetarium, the astronomy center's 22-minute signature film, "Maunakea: Between Earth and Sky," traces the journey of explorers aboard double-hulled canoes who used the stars to plot their course across the sea.

The movie tells of the births of stars and shows footage of underwater volcanoes. It is followed by a brief star show on the planetarium's dome.

A 3-D video, "Voyage Through Space," guides the viewer on a scientifically accurate trip through the solar system and Milky Way Galaxy to the edge of the universe.

Short movies mix folklore with science, presenting the Hawaiian creation chant as well as information on the big-bang theory that the universe began with a cosmic explosion 13 billion years ago.

In all, there are about 100 custom-designed exhibits in the center.

In one room, a plastic 6-foot-diameter globe hung from the ceiling is lit up with projection cameras using animated data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The globe shows views including the weather patterns that created Hurricane Katrina, the city lights that can be seen from space and depictions of Earth's varying climates.

Nearby, another room features information on the ukulele and the rebirth of the Hawaiian language.

The $28-million Imiloa museum, whose name means "to seek and explore," had 45,000 visitors in its inaugural year since opening in February 2006, but it hasn't caught on with many tourists yet. About 80% of visitors to the museum, located at the University of Hawaii in Hilo, are Hawaii residents.