Updated at 1:37 p.m., Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Mauna Kea chosen as site for world's largest telescope
Advertiser Staff, News Services
A consortium of U.S. and Canadian universities said today it has decided to build the world's largest telescope in Hawaii.
Thirty Meter Telescope Observatory Corp. picked Mauna Kea volcano over Chile's Cerro Armazones mountain, the other finalist candidate site.
The $1.2 billion telescope should allow scientists to see some 13 billion light years away — a distance so great, and so far back in time, that researchers should be able to watch the first stars and galaxies forming.
In a news release, Gov. Linda Lingle praised the decision, calling it an "extraordinary step forward in the state's continuing efforts to establish Hawaii as a center for global innovation for the future."
The telescope will be built by the University of California, the California Institute of Technology and the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy.
It's mirror will stretch 30 meters, or almost 100 feet, in diameter. That's about three times the diameter of the current world's largest telescopes, which are located atop Mauna Kea.
The selection is almost certain to raise controversy.
Mauna Kea's 13,796-foot summit is considered sacred to Hawaiians as the meeting place of the sky god Wakea and the Earth mother Papa, parents of the first ancestors of the Hawaiian people.
The volcano also is home to rare native plant and insect species and the Sierra Club has voiced concern that no one has studied the "carrying capacity" of the mountain.
In 2007, legal challenges by environmental and Hawaiian groups helped scuttle plans for a $50 million addition to the W.M. Keck Observatory.
The TMT is a far more ambitious project than that one, with the structure housing the telescope and support buildings estimated to require two acres of land.
On its Web site, TMT says the core technology of the telescope will be a primary mirror composed of 492 segments that will give the new telescope nine times the collecting area of today's largest optical telescopes.
"The atmospheric conditions, low average temperatures, and very low humidity (on Mauna Kea) will open an exciting new discovery space using adaptive optics and infrared observations," said Edward Stone, a Caltech professor and vice chairman of the TMT board. "Working in concert with the partners' existing facilities on Mauna Kea will further expand the opportunities for discoveries."
Henry Yang, TMT board chair and chancellor at UC-Santa Barbara, said, "Our scientists and engineers have been designing and building the key components that will go into the telescope.
"By deciding to build on Mauna Kea, the TMT board has given a clear signal that we are ready to move forward and begin building in earnest as soon as all the necessary approvals are in place.
"... The board expresses a strong commitment to respect the long history and cultural significance of Mauna Kea to the Hawaiian people, and has committed annual funding for local community benefits and education in Hawaii."
Before construction can begin on Mauna Kea, the TMT must submit and have approved an application for a Conservation District Use Permit to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. This will be done through the community-based Office of Mauna Kea Management, which oversees the Mauna Kea summit as part of the University of Hawaii-Hilo.
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kuching wrote:
While the news and comments make it sound like a done deal - I have my doubts.
Before a Conservation District Use Application (CDUA) can be submitted - there must be a "valid and approved" Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) in place.
The current CMP - although complete approval has been attempted is being challenged as not being comprehensive enough. I would wager that a legal appeal to the courts will result in a gross rejection of the CMP in its current form.
On the other hand, the recent Draft EIS that the TMT submitted was such a sorry document - looking so much like it was submitted by a bunch of dim-witted amateurs, that if finalized without wholesale modification, will also fail to pass the court's muster.
So, don't get overly excited folks. The final chapter ain't goin' happen for awhile - maybe only when it will be too late to get a positive cost-benefit ratio and taking into effect that the lease on the mountain terminates in 24 years.
07/21/2009 11:24:03 a.m.
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Way to go Ku. I sit on the slopes of the mountain. I wake up each morning, when it is not cloudy I see the mountain. I also see the pus balls. Sucks majors. My prayers are with you. Mahalo Take care and God bless
Though this is a bit problematic amd troubling I hope that you do whatever you can do to stop them because if it proceeds as they plan it will suck the life out of her.
Replies
Way to go Ku. I sit on the slopes of the mountain. I wake up each morning, when it is not cloudy I see the mountain. I also see the pus balls. Sucks majors. My prayers are with you. Mahalo Take care and God bless
Malama pono and a hui hou
Kalei
I've seen the EIS Volume 1 and Volume 2 at http://www.tmt-hawaiieis.org/library and I absolutely do NOT want it.
Though this is a bit problematic amd troubling I hope that you do whatever you can do to stop them because if it proceeds as they plan it will suck the life out of her.
Mahalo!
I hope you guys get the kala for imua.