Astrophysics (Index)About

Mauna Kea

(Hawaiian mountain, the site of observatories)

Mauna Kea is a 13803 foot (4200 meter) dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii. A number of observatories are located on or near its summit. The atmosphere is very dry, unpolluted and cloud cover is generally below the summit. It is also distant from cities. The University of Hawaii built Mauna Kea's the first modern observatory with a 2.2 meter telescope in 1970. The land devoted to observatories is currently managed by the University of Hawaii as the Mauna Kea Observatories. Some current observatories:

Former:

Planned:

There is concern that the mountain is overrun by telescopes, and the current plan is to decommission some: CSO was decommissioned, with removal plans in progress, and Hoku Ke'a and UKIRT are slated for future removal.

Note that another Hawaiian mountain, Mauna Loa, also has numerous observatories and telescopes, including the Yuan-Tseh Lee Array and the High Altitude Observatory. The word Mauna means mountain.


(location,Hawaii)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauna_Kea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauna_Kea_Observatories
https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mauna-kea
https://www.explore-the-big-island.com/mauna-kea-volcano.html
https://about.ifa.hawaii.edu/facility/mauna-kea-observatories/
https://www.eso.org/gen-fac/pubs/astclim/espas/espas_reports/ESPAS-MaunaKea.pdf
https://www.cv.nrao.edu/rocks/pdf/Hawaii.telescopes.pdf
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1989PASP..101..436R/abstract

Referenced by pages:
Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO)
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT)
extremely large telescope (ELT)
Gemini Observatory
Haleakala Observatory
IRTF
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT)
Keck Observatory
Mauna Kea Observatories (MKO)
MKO photometric system
SpeX
Subaru Telescope
Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT)
United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT)
Zeeman-Doppler imaging (ZDI)

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