Another Alternative Site for the TMT

[Old Croc]

The Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia. It's about 600 m lower than Mauna Kea, but:
1) No fascists have declared it sacred;
2) You don't need to drive up a steep mountain to get there;
3) No light pollution

[kalakoa]

TMT kind of needs to be north of the equator, which Bolivia is not.

[Old Croc]

quote:

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TMT kind of needs to be north of the equator, which Bolivia is not.

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Then why were three sites in Chile considered?

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Then why were three sites in Chile considered?

No sites in Chile were ever considered for the TMT, except by protestors who were shouting out names of alternate locations like they were playing Charades.

[Frank]

ya might want to see page 5 ...https://www.tmt.org/download/Document/4/original

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Page 7:

Although arguments could be made in favor of either hemisphere, the advantages of being the only ELT in the Northern hemisphere carried the most weight. There are some unique scientific opportunities afforded by the Northern Hemisphere, and from the larger perspective of world-wide astronomy and astrophysics research, a Northern location complements the two planned ELTs in the Southern Hemisphere.

TomK probably knows more about the specific details, but my basic understanding is that although the TMT could be built in the Southern Hemisphere, that location doesn’t offer the unique opportunities for discovery as if it were built in the Northern Hemisphere, where no other telescope as large as the TMT has a view of that part of the sky.

[TomK]

When the TMT was originally looking for sites to build, it certainly considered sites in the southern hemisphere as at that time it could be built before or at the same time as the ELT and GMT. However, as time went on, it became clear this would no longer be the case and because large 30-meter class telescopes would soon become available in the southern hemisphere, a northern site became much more important so the whole sky could be observed by this class of telescope.

Choosing a southern hemisphere site now would mean the TMT would not be competitive but a northern site would allow the TMT to complement the large telescopes in Chile while allowing astronomers to see celestial objects not visible from the south.

[MattKarma]

India would be a much, much better site than Hawaii.

***Still can't figure out how to spell 'car' correctly***

[MattKarma]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_A...bservatory

***Still can't figure out how to spell 'car' correctly***

[MattKarma]

Xenophobic westerners... Hawaiians are giving them what they need.

***Still can't figure out how to spell 'car' correctly***