08-31-2008, 05:47 PM
The TMT (30 Meter Telescope) project has many pluses & many minuses....
It is still under investigation... EIS's for the proposal locations (not all of them in the US) are under concideration.... These are not totally 'clean' there are impacts that must be totally reviewed....esp. in the locales they are put... very delicate mountain ecosystems... almost all of the locations being looked at have very significant cultural ties to the mountain (s) under concideration...
The current TMT proposal for Mauna Kea does not have adding a telelscope, but replacing a current outdated (in size) telescope with the segmented mirror TMT...
There is much data available & some of the best places to gather them is to enjoy the many Astrotalk astronomy programs presented by UH-Hilo ( http://astroday.net/ click onthe 'astrotalk' icon) and the Onizuka Visitors Center. (this Friday is the next 'AstroTalk' at UH-H at 7pm & Saturday at Onizuka( www.ifa.hawaii.edu )
Added: There are also some problems with how the observatories have not met the environmental safety requirement placed on them in the past, and that the promises made will, again, not happen... so it is not a perfect scenerio. Many of the people who work on the mountain realize that the 'sins of the past' will foreshadow any plans that are made in the future. The best scenerio is to work with all of the involved groups and work to formulate plans that minimize and eliminate as many potential impacts as possible.
When you get to meet the people that work on these projects, you see how posititve interactions between the various groups is the best way to handle any work in this area. When the groups have ownership in the plans, there is a better chance that things do not get overlooked...
It is still under investigation... EIS's for the proposal locations (not all of them in the US) are under concideration.... These are not totally 'clean' there are impacts that must be totally reviewed....esp. in the locales they are put... very delicate mountain ecosystems... almost all of the locations being looked at have very significant cultural ties to the mountain (s) under concideration...
The current TMT proposal for Mauna Kea does not have adding a telelscope, but replacing a current outdated (in size) telescope with the segmented mirror TMT...
There is much data available & some of the best places to gather them is to enjoy the many Astrotalk astronomy programs presented by UH-Hilo ( http://astroday.net/ click onthe 'astrotalk' icon) and the Onizuka Visitors Center. (this Friday is the next 'AstroTalk' at UH-H at 7pm & Saturday at Onizuka( www.ifa.hawaii.edu )
Added: There are also some problems with how the observatories have not met the environmental safety requirement placed on them in the past, and that the promises made will, again, not happen... so it is not a perfect scenerio. Many of the people who work on the mountain realize that the 'sins of the past' will foreshadow any plans that are made in the future. The best scenerio is to work with all of the involved groups and work to formulate plans that minimize and eliminate as many potential impacts as possible.
When you get to meet the people that work on these projects, you see how posititve interactions between the various groups is the best way to handle any work in this area. When the groups have ownership in the plans, there is a better chance that things do not get overlooked...