07-31-2019, 06:53 PM
Thank you, Kaimana, and I completely understand your position. I am more than happy to have a dialogue with people who have a completely different opinion to me. This is exactly how I think things should be even if, in the end, we'll fail to agree or compromise. That is the way of the world and it doesn't mean opposing side need to be enemies, just understanding and respecting each other's point of view leads to good things.
It was my estimate that the TMT would lose about 30% of it's designed capability if it was built on La Palma and this was based on the wavelength regime it has been designed to work at as well as other factors which I could spend an hour talking about. The TMT is designed to work from around 0.3 microns (300-nanometres, 3000 Angstroms and I need to double-check that) up to around 25 microns, i.e., from what our eyes can see up to infrared wavelengths optical/IR telescopes can observe from the ground. At La Palma, it will lose the ability to work at thermal infrared wavelengths, which is 2.3 microns and above (longer wavelengths than the eye can detect, but fundamentally important for an awful lot of astrophysics). It won't lose that ability completely but it won't be able to compete with other observatories and that ability will be lost to the northern hemisphere. In summary, an awful lot of science it is designed to do will be lost.
PS. "[...]the TMT only wants to be here because it'll be higher than the ELT."
That's not the case at all. The ELT will have access to the southern sky only. The TMT will have access to the northern sky. The two will complement each other. Mauna Kea was chosen through a scientific process that ended up with Mauna Kea being chosen as the best site in the Northern Hemisphere. What wasn't considered, however, was the current blowback and I'm really pissed the TMT senior scientists aren't here to engage with the local population and leaving Maunakea Observatories to deal with the fallout.
It was my estimate that the TMT would lose about 30% of it's designed capability if it was built on La Palma and this was based on the wavelength regime it has been designed to work at as well as other factors which I could spend an hour talking about. The TMT is designed to work from around 0.3 microns (300-nanometres, 3000 Angstroms and I need to double-check that) up to around 25 microns, i.e., from what our eyes can see up to infrared wavelengths optical/IR telescopes can observe from the ground. At La Palma, it will lose the ability to work at thermal infrared wavelengths, which is 2.3 microns and above (longer wavelengths than the eye can detect, but fundamentally important for an awful lot of astrophysics). It won't lose that ability completely but it won't be able to compete with other observatories and that ability will be lost to the northern hemisphere. In summary, an awful lot of science it is designed to do will be lost.
PS. "[...]the TMT only wants to be here because it'll be higher than the ELT."
That's not the case at all. The ELT will have access to the southern sky only. The TMT will have access to the northern sky. The two will complement each other. Mauna Kea was chosen through a scientific process that ended up with Mauna Kea being chosen as the best site in the Northern Hemisphere. What wasn't considered, however, was the current blowback and I'm really pissed the TMT senior scientists aren't here to engage with the local population and leaving Maunakea Observatories to deal with the fallout.