One place that we just HAD to see during our time in Hawaii was Mauna Kea Observatory. This is one of the best sites in the world for telescopes. It is high above most clouds and is dry and usually calm. At 13,800 ft altitude it is one of the highest observatory sites in the world. It is certainly the highest this small bear has been without flying. The telescopes in the picture (from left to right) are the Japanese 8.2m Subaru, the twin 10m Kecks (the largest telescopes in the world at present) and the NASA 3m Infra-red telescope. Note that the NASA 'scope is operating; at this altitude the daytime sky is quite black at I-R wavelengths. There are lots of other telescopes at the Observatory, so expect more photos.
On the way up the road to the telescopes you have to stop at the visitors' centre. In fact you can only go higher if you have a driver with a permit. At the centre is one of the funniest signs I have ever read. We didn't see any cows on the way to the top, so I guess they must really be invisible. I didn't see any grass either, so maybe the invisible cows eat invisible grass. Evidently funny things live at high altitude.
Labels: astronomy, Hawaii, telescopes, volcano
# posted by Bart Bear @ 11:56 am
