Last week we got a little snow atop the mauna. I forgot to post the photos I took as we were pulling out. Snow was building on the roads and summit lead made the call to end the day a little early…
Snow
Tag: Mauna Kea
Postcard from the Summit – Mamane and Fogbow
As you descend from Hale Pohaku in the afternoon you often drive into the top of the clouds at about 6,000-8,000ft elevation. The transition from clear blue skies to fog is often stunningly breautiful, a zone where light does interesting things. This zone is haunted by ghostly phenomena… As long as the Sun angle is low you will see fogbows here…
Red Lights Under Stars
Were cultural sites destroyed when building observatories?
Another of the myths that plague this conversation. While not as commonly stated as some of the other myths discussed here, it has been persistent and seems to pop up regularly.
When the 12 existing facilities were built, not only were laws waived, heiau and ahus were bulldozed into trash heaps.
wailana in a comment on Ian Lind’s blog 14Sep2019
The myth is clearly an attempt to show that the state callously allowed the destruction of cultural properties in the past, thus showing that the state does not care for Hawaiian issues and would break its own laws.
Continue reading “Were cultural sites destroyed when building observatories?”A Moonlit Night at Kaʻohe
It was Norman who started it.
An innocent email… Anyone interested in a star party this weekend?
Last weekend’s new Moon star party had been a bust, heavy clouds overhead were a disappointment to those of us waiting for a good dark night.
Given the positive response to Norman’s email there seems to be a few folks ready to go despite a bright Moon in the sky. With the weather looking good the Saturday afternoon email flurry showed that a few folks were going, thus I joined in.
As per Mauna Kea normal I drove through the clouds, heavy fog on Saddle Road just a mile from Kaʻohe made the trip seem hopeless. But as I neared the turn I suddenly found myself above the clouds, the bright Moon high over Hualalai.
Continue reading “A Moonlit Night at Kaʻohe”A Night Between Hurricanes at Kaʻohe
Our monthly dark skies star party had been originally planned for the night of July 27th, a few days before full Moon. With the governor’s emergency order all access to the mauna was closed, and the gals at the DLNR office let me know I could not get a permit. With that I put out a message I hate to post… Star party cancelled.
One week later and things look better, the emergency order has been rescinded and we again have access to the mauna, no problem getting our permit.
The problem this time looked to be weather, no big problem… Just a couple of hurricanes.
Continue reading “A Night Between Hurricanes at Kaʻohe”Was the real summit of Mauna Kea destroyed to make way for a telescope?
The idea that one of the existing telescopes sits on what was the real summit of Mauna Kea is persistent.
and NO there is NO RECTIFYING of the DAMAGES TO MAUNA KEA!!! Damnit man they sheered OFF the summit to INSERT the Kecks into The Pu’u that was the SUMMIT. What an ignorant thing to say!!!
Susan Rosier in a Facebook comment, 4 Aug 2019
While not a common claim this idea keeps popping up. It was even repeated by Kealoha Pisciotta under oath during the contested case. In her case she claimed it was the nearby summit ridge that was shaved off, and they “just moved the summit”.
Continue reading “Was the real summit of Mauna Kea destroyed to make way for a telescope?”The observatories pay no rent?
There are two thing that opponents neglect to mention in this accusation. The observatories do pay the state money, quite a bit actually, about $4.4 million per year. Opponents also fail to understand why that $1 rent came about and the history of astronomy on the mauna.
In often nasty accusations, the $1 rent is used to imply that the observatories get a free ride, costing the state and county, and therefore the taxpayers. This is the part that is completely false, the observatories not only pay their share of costs, but have significantly benefited the island economy in very direct ways.
Continue reading “The observatories pay no rent?”You cannot build TMT on conservation land?
The claim is often made that TMT cannot be built as the land its would be sited on is a designated resource conservation district. This is another claim is steadily repeated by telescope opponents on social media…
ITS CONSERVATION LAND! What part of that is so hard to understand? no more damage to our mountain.. please!! auwē!
Lynne Ven in a Facebook post
The crux of the claim is that being conservation district means that the telescope cannot be built near the summit of Mauna Kea as it is conservation land, that somehow the land is completely protected.
This claim argument depends on ignorance of the laws surrounding conservation lands. To anyone not familiar with the state land system this might make sense, but it is just is not true.
Continue reading “You cannot build TMT on conservation land?”The motivation for TMT is greed and profit?
It is said over, and over, and over… The telescopes exist to exploit the mauna, to extract profit, that they are built for greed. This is the single most repeated myth about the observatories, and it is the most insulting.
The fact is that the observatories make no profit, they are either government owned or operated by non-profit corporations. Actually the reverse is true, they are very good at spending money, and they spend a lot, observatories are expensive to operate with about $100 million put into the island economy.
What opponents seem oblivious to is in insisting that the telescopes are for profit it that they a being totally insulting. The insinuation of greed is as insulting as the worst things said against them. They repeat the insult over and over and do not care.
People work in astronomy to learn and explore the universe, they consider the pursuit of knowledge to be a noble goal. I have never met someone who worked in astronomy to get rich, the very idea is laughable. Like much of academia astronomy generally does not pay very well compared to some alternatives. Personally I could be making far more money working for some mainland electronics firm, and have a much smaller mortgage.
Continue reading “The motivation for TMT is greed and profit?”