TMT Work to Resume Says Ige!

[AKpilot]

Pahoted, I'll assume you are an astronomer with a statement like that. You asked for my credentials, let us hear yours. I comment on matters Aviation because I am an Airline Transport Pilot, rated in everything form bush planes to jets, 13 years flying experience. Tom talks Astronomy because he works at UKIRT. I am not trying to be snarky, it just irks me when folks voice strong opinions on something they are clearly not knowledgeable in. I am sure Tom feels the same.

AKpilot

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Originally posted by pahoated

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Originally posted by HereOnThePrimalEdge
UKIRT is still the 2nd most productive telescope in the world, Mauna Kea's mana has been destroyed forever... so let's tear down the telescope anyway. Or how the State of Hawaii provides a lose-lose, nothing for everyone solution.

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Totally twisted Punatic view. It might be productive but at what cost?

It was built and funded by the United Kingdom. They abandoned it. UHH took over stewardship, getting some external customers in Lockheed and University of Arizona. It's over 30 years old. It means a lot of archaic stuff needing upgrades. It took a lot of work on UHH to get these customers. If they had huge line of patrons, they wouldn't be decommissioning it.

IR astronomy is all about the sensor and the processing instrumentation, as well as the precision of mechanical orientation. Even the gimbal systems today are more precise and faster. The cost to overhaul and upgrade an old observatory are...astronomical. During all this hoopla, people seem to have missed the astronomers that acknowledge observatories go obsolete. That is all that is happening, no conspiracies or incompetency transfer projections needed. In a way, IR telescopes don't have the same limitations as optical and they are better space based.
http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/wp-con...1ukirt.jpg
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/technology/imag...enshot.jpg

"Aloha also means goodbye. Aloha!"

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We're all here, because we're not all there!