My visit to the Mauna Kea Observatory

[Bathurst]

A couple of months ago I was mid way through travelling around the world on a whim when it struck me that I had to visit Hawaii and tick off a Volcano on my bucket list (it was actually a little bit of a disappointment but that's another story!), whilst checking out the sights to go visit I then remembered the Observatory and added that to the list.

So I booked a place on a Tour Party some weeks in advance, then the news struck that the local authorities had closed the main Mauna Kea road due to locals getting upset about a new Telescope being built (30m one I think), so they littered the road with rocks and dangerous obstacles....my heart sank! I contacted the Tour Group and was assured it would be ok by the time I arrived, needless to say in the final days leading up to my visit I was constantly glued to the local news sites for info about the Road....and thankfully it re-opened just days before my arrival <phew>

And so the day came, I drove up to the foot of the mountain which was hidden by cloud to meet the Tour Party. We drove a little way up then stopped for some late lunch and drinks in an abandoned farm house setting, after which we took the long winding drive upwards where I took some sickness tablets to warn off any potential unpleasantness at the top! The Tour guide mentioned the recent trouble with the locals but said he'd been able to take tours up the Mountain every day for the past month so that early worry was for nothing,seemed like a scare tactic from the authorities to try and lower visitor numbers for a bit but apparently it didn't work.

After stopping at the Visitors Centre to gain access we continued on the long drive up, the tour guide mentioned areas a long the route where NASA test all sorts of equipment for potential Mars/Moon missions. Including the time he saw Astronauts (or just random people in a Space Suit!) deliberately rolling around in the rough Martian like terrain to make sure the Suits were strong enough to prevent tears and the like! It was around this time that we started to notice the sun glinting through the ever thinning clouds and then, out of nowhere, the first "WOW...look at that view!" moment...still barely half way up the mountain!

Another 30minutes or so and we finally got to the top to be surrounded by what can only be described as an Astronomers Heaven! Please forgive my ignorance and newbishness at this point as I have no idea what type of telescopes these were, but to me they all looked totally awesome with a view so breathtaking it did actually take my breath away as I ran around taking pictures of them all! We spent a good 25-30mins at the top of the Summit (on a mountain taller than Everest no less!) but unfortunately we could not go inside any of the Scopes, I did manage a sneaky picture of one of the mirrors though (see below) as this Scope was getting ready for action.

Upon Sunset the strict orders to get off the top came into force, which was a shame as I would've loved to just sit there under the stars at the Summit. But fear not, we came down about 10minutes drive and the Tour Operator got out a Telescope (forget the details) and we gazed at Venus, Saturn and I think Mars for a good few minutes whilst I played with my camera (took the Panasonic TZ70, all pictures below from that). The group of paying customers I was with were very clearly not even amateur astronomers, only one other person was able to keep a conversation going about the stars, so when we gazed through the telescope at the planets I let them all have a look for a longer amount of time as I had roughly the same telescope back home so had seen it all before (bar the much clearer skies!). After a while of fighting the cloud that was rolling in we ventured back down to the relative humidity of Hawaii's Big Island and back to home with a huge grin on my face.

Overall whilst the tour was severely lacking in a few areas, especially not being allowed inside any of the big telescopes, I did enjoy the visit and it will remain lodged in my memory forever more. The pictures I took are - if I do say so myself - very good and a couple I may print onto a canvas a long with others from my travels, I have included a few below for your pleasure (reduced in size from originals).

Finally if you ever get the chance it is worth the trip up Mauna Kea, purely for the sight of the Scopes & View alone!

Enjoy!

(mods please move to relevant forum, wasn't sure where to post!)

NASAs Martian Training Ground and you can see why they use it as such!

The Huge mirror, rough guess 2m across

I believe this is being removed from site, part of the agreement to build the new 30m telescope.

Me, Posing, as you do!

Stars & Mauna Loa above the clouds, shot from the gazing session.

[triton1]

Looks very serene,great pics thanks

[laudropb]

Very nice report and lovely photos. Thanks for posting.

[Grotemobile]

I will second that.

Very good pictures.

Steve.

[andrew63]

Sounds like a great visit  - shame that they did not have a larger telescope for visitors to view.  Nice views from the mountain.

andrew

[cloudnine]

Great pictures and write-up. Brings back memories of my own visits to the top as an interested amateur. It is such an awesome place but serenely industrial. Love the sunset shot with the sunlight glinting off the twin Kecks and Subaru. Thanks for sharing!

Martin

[Bathurst]

Great pictures and write-up. Brings back memories of my own visits to the top as an interested amateur. It is such an awesome place but serenely industrial. Love the sunset shot with the sunlight glinting off the twin Kecks and Subaru. Thanks for sharing!

Martin

Suburu that was it! Remember asking the Tour Guide what other cars were on the Mountain at the time

[Dave In Vermont]

Those pictures are simply wonderful! Thank you very much! Mars is right - it might as well be from there. No wonder the true custodians' don't want insensitive and irreverent two-legs messing it up.

Thank's again for the tour -

Dave