Hawaii Tribune-Herald ‘Blown away by their creativity’ Titan, the largest moon that orbits Saturn, was long shrouded in mystery after being discovered in the 17th century. Following the recent Cassini spacecraft mission, it’s now known the moon, which is larger than Mercury, hides lakes and seas made of liquid hydrocarbons under its thick atmosphere, and that its surface temperature is a frigid minus 292 degrees Fahrenheit. On this world, it rains methane, though oceans of liquid water and ammonia are likely present below the surface. That could make it a challenging place for life to develop, at least as we know it. On a September evening atop Maunakea, three Honokaa High School students — Anika Wiley, Marie-Claire Ely and Kaitlin Villafuerte — sought to find out by using the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility. “We had a couple moons in mind and we narrowed it down to Titan mainly because of the atmosphere,” said Marie-Claire, 15, a senior. “We’re looking for something that can show us evidence there has been life.” Each are active in the school’s astronomy club and jumped at the opportunity to use one of the mountain’s telescopes through the Maunakea Scholars program. These students are doing more than shadowing astronomers. They are doing the research and coming up with the ideas themselves, sometimes at PhD levels, said Mary Beth Laychak, outreach manager for the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and the students’ mentor. “We’re continually blown away by their creativity,” she said, noting that some research ideas have to be turned down because they would take years to conduct. About 315 students, most of whom received school credit, have Sunday, December 24, 2017 15 Maunakea Scholars program puts massive telescopes in the hands of high school students By TOM CALLIS Hawaii Tribune-Herald HOLLYN JOHNSON/Tribune-Herald Honokaa High School students, from left, Kaitlin Villafuerte, Anika Wiley and Marie-Claire Ely observe Titan with the See SCHOLARS Page 16 NASA Infrared Telescope Facility.
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