Native Hawaiians believe the telescope site is sacred because it is where their creation story begins. WHY IS THIS LAND SACRED TO NATIVE HAWAIIANS? "They are all intended to address fundamental questions that both push back the frontier of science and go to the core of who we are: Where did we come from? Where are we going? And are we alone?" he said. (Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation via AP) There are currently three extremely large telescopes being planned, two in Chile and one on Hawaii's Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano where some Native Hawaiians have been protesting the project because it's being built on what they consider sacred land. Astronomers carefully select locations to build these instruments, usually on remote mountaintops, so they can fully utilize the technology being used. This undated artist rendering provided by Giant Magellan Telescope Organization, shows the Giant Magellan Telescope in its planned location in Chile's Atacama Desert. Patrick McCarthy, interim president of Giant Magellan Telescope Organization, said the three projects have similar scientific goals. "In that sense, the sites are very complementary and both important to the astronomical community," he said.ĭr. All three are similar in both size and function.Īn important difference between the telescopes in Hawaii and Chile is that they will observe different parts of the sky, Tim de Zeeuw, director of the European Southern Observatory, said in an email to The Associated Press. The other two will be built in the remote Atacama Desert in Chile, where astronomers say conditions are comparable to Mauna Kea. The Thirty Meter Telescope is on course to be the first to be operational. Besides the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea, two very large land-based telescopes are planned. "Hawaii is one of the few places where you hit all three, which is why everybody in the world wants to build their telescopes there." "Places that are not developed tend not to be near places that can support technological endeavors," she said. It also helps to be located somewhere with easy access to technology. "Being in the middle of the ocean is geographically perfect," she said. ![]() To tap the full potential of the kind of telescopes being used on Mauna Kea and other similar sites, scientists say a number of conditions must be present.Īccording to award-winning astronomer Andrea Ghez, a professor at the University of California Los Angeles who has published the most compelling proof of black holes to date, Mauna Kea is the "best place in the world to do astronomy." Mike Brown, an astronomer and professor at the California Institute of Technology, used Mauna Kea telescopes to help reclassify Pluto as a dwarf planet. "We might be able to fly to them at some point." "The fact that there are other planets out there at some point will change our perspective in a similar way, as the first picture of the Earth taken from the moon did," Hasinger said. Scientists at Mauna Kea have helped identify the presence of dark energy, discover a black hole in our galaxy and learn about potentially habitable planets in other solar systems, to name a few. ![]() But Guenther Hasinger, director of Mauna Kea's Institute for Astronomy, said "there is almost no major astronomical discovery where there was not very important input from the telescopes on Mauna Kea." The 13 telescopes already in place on the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii's highest point, have played major roles in discoveries considered among the most significant to astronomy.Īstronomers often use many different telescopes in locations around the world to draw their conclusions. WHAT KIND OF SCIENCE IS BEING DONE ON MAUNA KEA? Here's a look at what makes Mauna Kea such a valuable place for both science and the Hawaiian culture. Many Native Hawaiians, however, consider the land sacred.Īstronomers on Mauna Kea continue to peer into the most distant reaches of our early universe, allowing them to see the time immediately following the cosmic dark ages and the big bang. If the highly contested Thirty Meter Telescope is constructed on the site, scientists say they will be able to explore more of the universe's unsolved mysteries.
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