01-29-2018, 07:35 PM
This is just my personal opinion and I know it isn't shared by everyone including some observatory staff.
I have no problem at all with free access to the public to the summit area including the area around the summits. It's part of the reason people want to visit. The observatories themselves are fairly secure and we know very quickly if someone is trying to gain access to them, even those operated remotely. When we used to operate UKIRT with a night crew at the summit, I actually enjoyed interacting with the visitors when I did my usual stroll around at sunset, although the questions did become a bit tedious after a while (have you ever seen a UFO? Do black holes really exist? Can we see your telescope?).
It's a special place, full of beauty and discovery and should be shared with everyone. Any plan to limit access or have paid access to an incompetent state-run organization would be a disaster in my opinion and could possibly lead to even more problems than we have now, including ending Mauna Kea's reputation for the best place on the planet for astronomy.
I do, however, quite like the suggestion of the area being taken over by the National Park system, but that would also create problems and people would still need to pay for a summit experience. And I doubt it will happen in the near future.
There are a lot more pros and cons I can think of right now, but trying to keep this as short as possible.
I have no problem at all with free access to the public to the summit area including the area around the summits. It's part of the reason people want to visit. The observatories themselves are fairly secure and we know very quickly if someone is trying to gain access to them, even those operated remotely. When we used to operate UKIRT with a night crew at the summit, I actually enjoyed interacting with the visitors when I did my usual stroll around at sunset, although the questions did become a bit tedious after a while (have you ever seen a UFO? Do black holes really exist? Can we see your telescope?).
It's a special place, full of beauty and discovery and should be shared with everyone. Any plan to limit access or have paid access to an incompetent state-run organization would be a disaster in my opinion and could possibly lead to even more problems than we have now, including ending Mauna Kea's reputation for the best place on the planet for astronomy.
I do, however, quite like the suggestion of the area being taken over by the National Park system, but that would also create problems and people would still need to pay for a summit experience. And I doubt it will happen in the near future.
There are a lot more pros and cons I can think of right now, but trying to keep this as short as possible.