TMT Work to Resume Says Ige!

[TomK]

"Ran into a couple of Mauna Kea astronomer friends last night and we discussed the ordeal in length. At this point they don't really care what happens. The setbacks and time lost due to the protesting will render TMT obsolete by the time it is built."

I've seen this "TMT will be obsolete by the time it's built" argument several times now, usually from TMT protesters. The argument holds no water, it's entirely false. When questioned, those making the argument invariably point out that the ELT is being built in Chile and will be larger than the TMT. However, aperture size has little bearing on whether a telescope is obsolete or not. If it was important, the HST would have been obsolete as soon as it was sent into orbit, both Subaru and Gemini on MK would be obsolete as the Kecks are larger, and why even build the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) in Chile as it will be smaller than both the TMT and the ELT?

How capable a telescope is comes from a large combination of factors including the site, the instrument suite and, to some extent, the aperture, but size isn't everything. When built, the ELT, GMT and the TMT will be the post powerful and technologically advanced ground-based telescopes in existence.