UKIRT To End Maunakea Operations September 15

[MyManao]

Gee, I remember when operations first began.. what a life, eh?

From.. https://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2026/...issioning/

Where it begins..

Science operations at the UKIRT observatory on Maunakea will conclude on September 15, and the facility will be completely removed from the summit by 2023, officials say. 

On Wednesday, the University of Hawaiʻi announced its plan, making UKIRT the third Maunakea telescope to be decommissioned.

“Aging facilities and funding challenges, especially given the expiration of the UH master lease in 2033, in addition to the obligations contained in the UH Master Plan, led to the decision to end science operations,” a university news release stated. “The U.S. Naval Observatory has sponsored scientific research at UKIRT for many years, supporting decades of discovery through the telescope.”

More at link above..

[kalianna]

One can feel the disturbance in The Force, a vague seething anger emanating from the vapors, that YOU were the one to post this seemingly innocent announcement.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Dateline: Hawaii, July 2029

Now that AI has become capable of understanding and translating the language of original inhabitants of the islands, Apapane, ʻIʻiwi, ʻAmakihi, Nēnē, etc and they have voiced their demand for a return of Hawaii to a majority endemic and indigenous aviancentric population, the first human emigrants deported to their original homelands will begin next year.

“Humans have brought nothing but suffering, disease, and undesirable competition for land and food to the original inhabitants of these islands” said avian spokesperson Olohana 1790.  “It has been an unmitigated disaster since humans arrived day one. Only idiots would bring mosquitoes to a land with no mosquitoes.”

After the last of the humans have exited, only one will be allowed to remain with the honorary title Ambassador Olohana 1790.  His duties will include monitoring the coastline, and AI transmissions attempting to contact avian voters with manipulative messaging about their ability to provide positive benefits in exchange for empty promises of undefined wealth and an underclass they can dominate with no personal effort of their own. 

“We know bullsh*t when we hear it.  It’s all that comes out of a non-native alien bully, sometimes silicon based” replied Ambassador Olohana to reporters when asked about the policy. “Sure, in the short term AI helped get our message out to the humans, but how’d that work out for them?  We can’t be sure we won’t be next when there’s a botanical language unlocked.”

[Durian Fiend]

One can feel the disturbance in The Force, a vague seething anger emanating from the vapors, that YOU were the one to post this seemingly innocent announcement.

HE can't, due to banishment.   Yes, this is the observatory where Tom works.

[kalianna]

Exactly.

[randomq]

Who needs science when we can stack rocks and pray to gods? Poli'ahu, please shield us from extinction level asteroids.

[MyManao]

Who needs science when we can stack rocks and pray to gods?  Poli'ahu, please shield us from extinction level asteroids.

You are being silly, right?

Seriously, when we consider the original lease agreement which capped the number of scopes on the mountain I suspect you would agree one very small, old, aging, scope on our Mauna, which is by prior agreement being swapped out to make way for more advanced technology, is not trading science for anything, but rather making way for more, and better science to come.

And, besides, with the dozens upon dozens of space based observatories we already have.. as listed here.. and the proposed new ones as listed here.. what are we losing? I mean, sure, there goes a few jobs, and those who have an affinity for that particular scope will argue its greatness until the cows come home, but come on, it ain't like whatever it may gaze upon can't be seen otherwise.

And still, no matter the argument, it's time to give the Hawaiians their due. Something, btw, the folks over at the TMT seem to be learning.. and hopefully before it's too late..

[Durian Fiend]

Edited response: "Those against astronomy/science and critical thinking in Hawaii will claim a win because another observatory has been shut down. The real reason it was shut down is that the federal funding agency was unable to commit to funding UKIRT operations, had put the IfA into debt, and that debt was unsustainable for the Institute of Astronomy....

Closing UKIRT early has nothing to do with Hawaiian claims about the mountain being sacred, colonization, or whatever crazy stuff will be posted now.... The best way to say it online is that USNO's ability to fund UKIRT's operations became too unstable and unpredictable to continue UKIRT operations without the IfA being put into unrecoverable debt...


...The original lease says nothing about swapping out telescopes. Secondly, UKIRT was the most scientifically productive telescope on the planet for several years. Thirdly, it produced the highest-impact scientific results per dollar of any telescope anywhere, by a massive margin; no telescope comes close in cost per scientific result, including those in orbit.

Because it was one of the first observatories on the mountain and was not run like a US corporation, it helped provide some of the most important results in the history of observational astrophysics. It was the scientific and engineering staff that made that happen...

[HiloJulie]

So, were going to relitigate the end of the UKIRT Telescope whose fate has been known to eventually occur for about the last 10 plus years, complete with cut and pasted responses from a vacationing PunaWebber?

This isn't news, it's just plain "Codswallop!"

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

complete with cut and pasted responses from a vacationing PunaWebber?

I think the information came from a UofH press release:

https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2026/07/02/u...issioning/