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Peering into space from Hawaii
Star gaze from the Mauna Kea mountain observatory
 Nasa / REUTERS Two telescopes atop a dormant Hawaiian volcano have teamed up to make an optical instrument powerful enough to look for planets outside our solar system. The telescopes at the W.M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii are the world's most powerful. |
MAUNA KEA SUMMIT, Hawaii - The days of a wild-haired, scientist peering into a telescope and crying "Eureka!" are over.
Astronomy today is light-years beyond that cartoon image, and the Subaru telescope, perched atop the summit of the world's highest island mountain, is one of science's most awesome achievements.
The 13,796-foot height of Mauna Keah's summit and its remote location make it among the finest peaks in the world for land-based astronomy, and the skies are clear enough for serious star-gazing 330 or more nights each year. A dozen of the world's premiere telescopes are here to take advantage of the lofty perch.
Subaru - the Japanese word for the constellation Pleiades which also roughly translates to "gathering" - offers 30-minute tours of its facility for folks willing to give up a day of Hawaii's famed sun and surf.
The trip from either of the Big Island population centers - Hilo to the east and Kona to the west - takes about 3 1/2 hours.
That includes a stop at the 9,000-foot level, at the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy Visitor Information Center - highly recommended to acclimate to the altitude, which can be dangerous to children, pregnant women and people with respiratory or cardiac problems.
Mauna Kea is a volcano believed to have last erupted some 4,500 years ago. It is sometimes called the "white mountain: because its slopes often are dusted with snow in winter.
This year, patches of snow glistened along the northern face into the last week of May.
Stepping out of the four-wheel drive vehicle, we are jarred by the stiff, dry, cold wind that whipped clouds along below our vantage point.
Agricultural lands peeked through the clouds, green pastures in sharp contrast to the stark red cinder gravel beneath our feet and the brilliantly clear light blue skies all around.
It was a little dizzying, although I'm sure that was not the altitude.
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The 27-foot-diameter mirror arrived by ship on the Big Island in November 1998 and was big news as it was trucked up the mountainside. Interest has not waned in the seven years since the $400 million project was completed.
Operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and the University of Hawaii, the optical-infrared telescope draws stacks of research applications from students and scientists around the world.
One of every six or seven applicants is lucky enough to be granted even one night's viewing.
The public must settle for the 30-minute tour.
One recent tour, led by guide Andrew Hasagawa, included an expert who was as awed as I was as we stood in the 140-foot tall cylindrical enclosure, watching as the massive structure began a whisper-quiet tilt from vertical to almost horizontal.
James Dire, physics section chief at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., was rendered almost speechless. "Gigantic, behemoth," he said.
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