04-24-2009, 06:46 PM
Hello everyone.
I'm a long-time lurker who finally registered much later than I should have. Since this is my first post just a very brief introduction - I'm a Brit who's been living down on Kaloli Point in HPP for well over a decade now. I'm an astronomer who works at one of the observatories on Mauna Kea although most of the time I work at our office in Hilo.
I think I can speak for most astronomers that work on the summit by saying we would love to show our workplace to the public but that's rarely possible. I can go into the reasons why if anyone's interested, but as you might expect, it's safety related as well the simple fact it's our workplace and we're often very busy at sunset which is when most people visit the summit, so the disappointment factor is high.
Rob - I wasn't aware that Subaru were offering tours of their observatory, and if that's the case, wonderful! I'm glad you got to see a world-class telescope in one of the most picturesque places on the planet! Mgeary - I'm jealous. I've worked at the summit for nearly 13 years and visited regularly starting way back in 1991 and have yet to see the green flash. One day I will!
The sunset from the mountain is truly amazing although I think sunrises are even more beautiful. I have a blog with several pictures taken at the summit if anyone is interested (I think the URL is in my profile) but sunrise shots are lacking so far - we're so tired by then we just want to get back down to HP and sleep!
I'm open to the possibility of offering a visit to the summit and a telescope or two, perhaps once or twice a year. It would have to be limited to the number of people that could fit in a 4-WD vehicle. With costs shared it would be a relatively cheap trip!
I'm a long-time lurker who finally registered much later than I should have. Since this is my first post just a very brief introduction - I'm a Brit who's been living down on Kaloli Point in HPP for well over a decade now. I'm an astronomer who works at one of the observatories on Mauna Kea although most of the time I work at our office in Hilo.
I think I can speak for most astronomers that work on the summit by saying we would love to show our workplace to the public but that's rarely possible. I can go into the reasons why if anyone's interested, but as you might expect, it's safety related as well the simple fact it's our workplace and we're often very busy at sunset which is when most people visit the summit, so the disappointment factor is high.
Rob - I wasn't aware that Subaru were offering tours of their observatory, and if that's the case, wonderful! I'm glad you got to see a world-class telescope in one of the most picturesque places on the planet! Mgeary - I'm jealous. I've worked at the summit for nearly 13 years and visited regularly starting way back in 1991 and have yet to see the green flash. One day I will!
The sunset from the mountain is truly amazing although I think sunrises are even more beautiful. I have a blog with several pictures taken at the summit if anyone is interested (I think the URL is in my profile) but sunrise shots are lacking so far - we're so tired by then we just want to get back down to HP and sleep!
I'm open to the possibility of offering a visit to the summit and a telescope or two, perhaps once or twice a year. It would have to be limited to the number of people that could fit in a 4-WD vehicle. With costs shared it would be a relatively cheap trip!