Hawaii Astronomy

Hawaii is the home to the Earth’s connection to the universe. Near the Summit of Mauna Kea (White Mountain), which is a dormant volcano located at the southernmost part of Hawaii. Being the highest point of the pacific basin, a total of thirteen observatories were built. The Observatories are the world’s largest being operated by eleven countries. These observatories have a combined light gathering power of Fifteen times greater than that of the Palomar telescope in California and 60 times greater than the Hubble Space Telescope.

Currently, there are thirteen working telescopes near the summit of Mauna Kea. Nine of them are used for optical and infrared astronomy, three are for submillimeter wavelength astronomy, and the other one is for radio astronomy. These observatories include the largest optical/infrared telescopes; the Keck telescopes as the world’s largest twin optical/infrared telescopes. Apart from being the largest telescope, it enjoys the environment that Hawaii can offer, no mountain ranges that will distort the upper atmosphere and few city lights that pollute the air. Another large dedicated telescope on Mauna Kea is the United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope (UKIRT), which is also the largest of its kind-The Infra-Red Telescope. It is being owned by the United Kingdom Science and Technology Facilities Council. Lastly, the Very Long Baseline Array is one of the telescopes based on Mauna Kea, which is situated on the lower altitudes, two miles from the summit. All these observatories tell us what man has in store about his nature of curiosity.