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I took a day trip today up Mauna Kea and got a tour of the Subaru Telescope.
Every time I go up there it is spectacular.
If you ever take the time the free tour of a $400 million telescope facility is really cool. Perhaps I mean cold.
27 degrees outside with a 40 mph wind. Colder inside, but no wind.
It was great to be above the clouds with snow on the ground.
The best things in Hawaii are free.
Assume the best and ask questions.
Punaweb moderator
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Rob I'm green with envy! One of these days I'll get up there. Not too wild to see snow though.... brings back ugly memories!
Royall
What goes around comes around!
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I love going up there also. Especially at night. The stars seem so close you could reach out and touch them.
People with breathing problems should probably avoid it. It has only about half the oxygen at the summit that we're use to at the surface. Even if your lungs are fine...it still makes you feel a little lightheaded(especially if you drive to the top quickly without stopping to acclimate).
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I've been up to the summit three times, saw the green flash at sunset once. It's naturally beautiful and technologically magnificent all at the same time. How did you get a tour? We were turned away when we asked at one of the facilities.
Aloha! ;-)
Aloha! ;-)
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My wife and I went up last October for a sunset on her birthday. We were dressed warm, but still freezing our butts off. Then there's the couple from Green Bay standing comfortably next to us in shorts!
The sunset and haleakala are beautiful. If you turn around and look eastward at that time, you can see the shadow of the Big Island extending over the clouds/ocean. Good stuffs!
punatoons
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Greg, if you had a scope up with you, you would have seen that the arrow point of Mauna Kea's shadow at sunset points to, then covers, Hilo.... kinda cool! (or cold)
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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!
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There are several tour companies that cater to tourists wanting to visit the summit. I was shocked to find out that the typical cost is $200 per person these days (I may be wrong, that's hearsay). It's probably a fair cost given what they do, their costs and the people they're after (relatively rich tourists) but it doesn't target the local community.
I've spoken to so many people that live on the island that haven't been to the summit even once in their lifetime. I don't know about you, but I find that a little shocking.
The last thing I want to do is encourage even more visitors to the summit because it's already overcrowded, especially in the evenings. If I can help organise something that would allow some of the local population to visit the summit, however, especially those that haven't had the opportunity to visit before, I'm all for that.
I'll think about a way to do this if people are interested.
Tom
