10-26-2015, 06:30 PM
beejee,
"At this point Tom, how best to proceed? Form a petition to reverse the UKIRT decision?"
I don't think a petition is the way to go at this stage, it's far too early and they are so prone to abuse the numbers rarely mean much.
Right now this will be handled by the scientific community. UH will be asked to justify their decision (they have already been asked, informally, but stonewalled). For instance, NASA and the Arizona Steward Observatory will ask why UKIRT was chosen for decommissioning while two other observatories UH own, IRTF and the UH 88-inch were not chosen instead, despite the fact both are far less scientifically productive. The UH 88-inch is particularly unproductive.
Then the planetary protection scientists will want to know why their new capabilities are being taken away from them when the government has called for more research in that area.
Given the Hawaii political climate will likely be different in two or three years, Ige will likely be gone and no one really knows how the TMT project will progress at this stage, I don't think there's a need for others to involve themselves right now. I wouldn't want to stop you, but I suspect it'll be wasted effort.
"At this point Tom, how best to proceed? Form a petition to reverse the UKIRT decision?"
I don't think a petition is the way to go at this stage, it's far too early and they are so prone to abuse the numbers rarely mean much.
Right now this will be handled by the scientific community. UH will be asked to justify their decision (they have already been asked, informally, but stonewalled). For instance, NASA and the Arizona Steward Observatory will ask why UKIRT was chosen for decommissioning while two other observatories UH own, IRTF and the UH 88-inch were not chosen instead, despite the fact both are far less scientifically productive. The UH 88-inch is particularly unproductive.
Then the planetary protection scientists will want to know why their new capabilities are being taken away from them when the government has called for more research in that area.
Given the Hawaii political climate will likely be different in two or three years, Ige will likely be gone and no one really knows how the TMT project will progress at this stage, I don't think there's a need for others to involve themselves right now. I wouldn't want to stop you, but I suspect it'll be wasted effort.