'Thousands' attend Mars party at Bishop Museum
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
Helen Morita couldn't wait 284 years for Mars to make another close encounter with Earth. So she rounded up her daughter, granddaughter and the neighbor's kid and headed to the Bishop Museum for a Mars Madness viewing party last night.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser NASA via Associated Press
But the Moritas weren't the only ones excited about getting a glimpse of the red planet as thousands of people flocked to the Kalihi museum for the event. Bishop Museum planetarium manager Mike Shanahan said the viewing party drew more people than any other event in his four years at the museum.
Helen Morita of Hawai'i Kai looked through the telescope to get a glimpse of Mars during a Mars Madness viewing party last night at Bishop Museum. The event drew a big crowd and some never made it into the museum.
The Hubble Space Telescope took this portrait of Mars only minutes before the planet's closest approach to Earth, 34,647,420 miles, in nearly 60,000 years. In 2287, they will be even closer.
"I'm guessing there's thousands and thousands of people here. I have no estimate, but it's huge," said Shanahan, as he directed the throngs of people into various lines shortly after 9 p.m. He said the museum added more shows last night to accommodate the overflow crowd.
The lines were so long that many people turned back and never got into the museum. At one point, a 12-year-old boy set up his own telescope and charged $1 a look.
State Rep. Corinne Ching, who estimated she would be in the museum line for at least two hours, said the boy's business was gaining in popularity as the night drew on.
"This 12-year-old kid from Palolo Valley is a doll," she said. "He's really a crackup and he's putting people in a better mood."
Morita said her daughter, Lauren, granddaughter, Dana, and friend, Isaiah Kaupu, got to see Mars through the museum's telescope. But with poor weather conditions, Helen Morita never got a good look.
"Mars kept going behind the clouds," she said. Regardless, she said she was glad she brought the family to the museum. "You can always see (Mars), but it's not going to be this close."
Lauren Morita said the experience was "neat" and much better than viewing the planet with the naked eye.
"They woke me up (Tuesday night) and I was half asleep and we went outside and I said, 'Is that it? You guys woke me up for a piece of star?' " Lauren Morita said. "But if you go on the high-powered telescope, it looks round and it's red-orange and it's neat."
Ching said she was disappointed that other agencies and astronomy clubs didn't put on similar events. She said she talked with many people who had come from as far as Wai'anae and Waimanalo and didn't get into the museum last night.
"We have parties for the Super Bowl, maybe we should have had parties for this, something educational and historic," Ching said.
Mars yesterday moved to within 34.6 million miles from Earth, the closest the two planets have been in 60,000 years. In 2287, Mars and Earth will be a little closer than they were yesterday.
