Trip Report - Observing with a 22" Obsession UC at 9200' on Mauna Kea, Hawaii

[gary]

Last week I returned from a two-week observing trip on the side of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawai'i.

The trip was kindly organised by Dave Kriege of Obsession Telescopes who visits the island annually and keeps an Argo
Navis equipped 22" Obsession UC stored there at a house of a Keck Observatory worker.

Our primary observing spot was at a 9,200' (2,804 m) point on Mauna Kea. At that altitude you are typically above the
cloud tops but just below the point where altitude sickness becomes a potential issue for most individuals.

Night time temperatures typically hovered just above the freezing point but the freezer suit and woollen gloves I packed
for the trip made observing comfortable. I must admit it felt weird to pack cold weather gear for a trip to Hawaii. :)

Suffice to say the skies at that altitude, on an island in the mid-Pacific which has a relatively low population and enviable
outdoor lighting ordinances, are to die for. They are dark and transparent and the airglow which is typically visible at
the best dark sky locations at lower altitudes elsewhere on Earth is minimal.

The quality of the skies was first evidenced by the immediately apparent zodiacal light that extended up from the
western horizon to perhaps 60 degrees elevation or more. Caused by sunlight reflecting off particles of dust and ice in
the solar system, as one of my observing colleagues said, "if you didn't know better you would think there is a floodlit
football stadium down there".

A couple of Sky Quality Meters gave SQM readings around the 22.18 on each night.

The summit itself where the observatories are is at 13,800' (4,205m) and it is recommend that visitors to the summit
first acclimatise at the 9.200' point first for half an hour to an hour before proceeding. At 13,800' the atmospheric
pressure is 40 percent less than at sea level and Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) is common. One survey revealed that
some 69% of workers at the top of Mauna Kea have experienced AMS at some point. AMS can be serious, including
life-threatening conditions such as pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs) and cerebral edema (fluid on the brain). Thankfully a
well-graded gravel road allows for anyone who experiences AMS to be rapidly evacuated to below 10,000' where recovery is
typically quick.

We were lucky to be given a VIP daytime tour of the Keck I observatory and our visit corresponded to a beautiful day at
the peak. The first thing that strikes you when you get out of the car is the definite diminished amount of air to
breathe. You have to take things easy. It had been snowing up there and stooping over and throwing a couple of snowballs
would leave one feeling as if you had just run up several flights of stairs.

The observatory has O2 blood monitors and a check of our party gave us all the reassurance we were within normal levels.
Emergency oxygen is available on site.

We were also afforded a VIP tour of the Keck mirror lab at the observatory headquarters in Waimea. There we were able to
witness the multiyear painstaking refurbishment of the 72 mirror segments that constitute the two 10m mirrors on Keck I
and Keck II. Each mirror is equipped with multiple levers and actuators. One set positions each of the segments into its
appropriate position to form a parabola. A second corrects for small imperfections within an individual segment. A third
can distort the mirror by microns thousands of times per second as part of the laser artifical star driven adaptive
optics system.

One of the most remarkable attributes of our 9,200' observing point was the rapidity by which could access it.
During the day, we stayed at a beautiful rental house at 1000' altitude where the T-shirt and shorts temperature both
day and night was always perfect. It was only a 15 minute drive from the house to the beach. Yet we could drive from the
house to the 9,200' observing point via a high-speed highway and road in under 45 minutes.

In fact the road up is reputed to have one of the most rapid rises in the shortest amount of time for any road in the
world.

Those wimps who climb Everest only have to climb 12,000 feet to get from Base Camp to the summit. On the Big Island you
could ascend or descend through 13,800' in under a couple of hours including time to acclimatise, all in the comfort of a vehicle
with seat warmers.

Set-up time for the 22" Obsession UC, along with seven fold up chairs and a fold-up table was about 8 minutes and a further
couple of minutes to collimate and another minute to star align the Argo Navis.

With our observing site at +19 North and with two of us having come from Sydney and five from the continental United
States, the Aussies of course tended to want to seek out northern targets, particularly large galaxies and the Americans
southern targets. Thankfully there was plenty of time over our two week stay to do both.

Once Crux had risen, it was possible to see both it and Polaris at the same time.

Even familiar targets such as the Trio in Leo took on a new, fabulous appearance, each galaxy so fantastically bright
and extended.

On one occasion we observed until dawn which gave us the opportunity to witness a beautiful, dramatic and memorable
sunrise ascend up through the clouds below us.

On another night we had the opportunity to observe with local astronomy club members at a 6000' location. Several of the
club members worked at the Keck and it gave us a wonderful opportunity to chat to them about work there and life on the
Big Island.

We also took a road trip to the top of Mauna Loa which is home to the Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO), which is the premier
atmospheric research facility that has been continuously monitoring and collecting data related to atmospheric change
since the 1950's.

This is the base station from which the Earth's ever-increasing CO2 levels are measured and depicted in the now famous
Keeling Curve.

The one-lane, winding and undulating road to the summit of Mauna Loa goes through one of the most incredible landscapes
on Earth, passing through vast solidified lava fields.

At 3400m (11,145'), the observatory is up in some of the cleanest air on Earth and affords spectacular views across to
Mauna Kea.

Ascending from 5km beneath the ocean floor and in fact depressing 8km beneath it, Mauna Loa is the largest volcano on
the planet and its summit ascends some 17km (56,000') above its base!

I was lucky indeed to get to observe from Mauna Kea with a 22" scope over multiple nights under perfectly clear skies.
They are certainly the best skies I have ever observed under.

[gary]

Mauna Kea pictures

[gary]

Pictures from Mauna Loa

[Derek Klepp]

Great stuff thanks for sharing .
Cheers Derek

[gary]

Additional pictures from Mauna Loa

[GUS.K]

Thanks for a great write up of your fantastic trip Gary.

[Hemi]

Thanks Gary

A wonderful and enviable report.
ive stargazed with some locals at the top of Haleakala, in Maui, and that was unforgetable, but nothing like your experience.

"Those wimps who climb Everest only have to climb 12,000 feet to get from Base Camp to the summit. On the Big Island you
could ascend or descend through 13,800' in under a couple of hours including time to acclimatise."

Hah! Of course Everest Base camp starts at 5500m!! And the way up(or down) is on foot!:eyepop:....would love to stargaze from there.

Hemi

[gary]

Maua Kea from the road up to Mauna Loa, across the solidified lava fields.

The dark lava fields themselves provided the world's best terrestrial light baffle! :)

[gary]

The observatories atop Mauna Kea at sunset, taken from the summit of Mauna Loa, some 33km distance

[gary]

Sunrise at the 9,200' spot on Mauna Kea

[gary]

Warning and advisory signs, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa

[Dennis]

Wow - what a fantastic opportunity, thanks for the write-up and stunning imagery from your stay up there.

The scale of the observatory structures really become apparent when you see the parked vehicles and the terrain is other-worldly.

Lucky boy indeed.:)

Cheers

Dennis

PS - how do motor car engines cope with the reduced atmospheric pressure?

[gary]

The author posing at the controls of the Keck telescope, control room, 13,800'

The Keck 1 secondary

The Keck 1 10m primary mirror consisting of 36 hexagonal segments

The Keck 1 adaptive optics laser. The yellow sodium laser (red box) shoots up about 90km into the atmosphere before reflecting back.
The green patches are a phased array antenna. Aircraft are diverted by air traffic control not to fly across the observatories in case they pass in front of the laser.
The antenna can detect a transponder on-board most aircraft and its associated control system is designed to switch the laser off should one stray into observatory airspace.

Mirrors in the the Keck aluminizing lab at 13,800'. Note the levers and actuators on the back of each piece of glass.

[Sunfish]

I am impressed. Love the selfie and details of the actuators.

And the invisible cows.

[h0ughy]

Awesome trip, very envious and I wondered how far I've would have to go to get great skies given our East Coast Australian summer

[gary]

Water bottle on dashboard of car crushed under Earth's atmosphere.

It is very important to remain hydrated at altitude. I had opened the bottle
at the observatories atop Mauna Kea at 13,800 feet and drunk most of its
contents.

I threw the bottle on the dashboard.

When we drove back down to the house at 1000 feet, the bottle had become crushed.

The atmospheric pressure is 40 percent less at the top of Mauna Kea
than at sea level.

It also provides some sense of how little air you get to suck in each time you
take a breath up there!

[gary]

Two photographs taken by observing buddy Mike Beauchamp from the Great Lakes region.

Group shot at the 9,200' observing spot. Author second from the left.

The author at the eyepiece of the 22UC.

[gary]

Picture taken by friend Lachlan MacDonald of the author with the setting sun behind me near the summit of Mauna Loa

Group shadow shot by author, near sunset, Mauna Loa, 3400m

Ashra array of Cherenkov and Nitrogen Fluorescence detectors. The All-sky Survey High Resolution Air-shower detector is located on the northern upper slopes of Mauna Loa at the 11,000 ft elevation level.
Utilizing a clear view of 80% of the sky and an unobstructed view of Mauna Kea, anglular resolution of 1.2 arcmin, sensitive to the blue to UV light with the use of image intensifier and CMOS technology, Ashra is in a unique position for studying the sources of High Energy Cosmic Ray sources (GRB, etc) as well as potential observations of
earth-grazing neutrino interactions. It has confirmed several GRB's.

[gary]

Our ever-thoughtful host, Dave Kriege, gifted us each these limited edition
commemorative T-shirts. :thumbsup:

Sorry, your observing site skies are just not going to compare! :lol:

[gary]

Daytime activities include going to the beach, only 15 minutes away.
Time from beach to 9,200' observing site, less than an hour.

The street lighting across the entire Big Island is extraordinary. This
photo does not do it justice. These thin, low light, nearly monochromatic street
lights with cutoff are across the entire island. To the naked eye they are very thin, yet provide
more than enough light.
Even in the suburban setting of the house, the skies were as good as one would expect 6 hours
west of Sydney. There are no illuminated billboards, there is ubiquitous
use of cat's eye reflectors on the highways rather than using street lights
and compared to Oahu, the population density is very low.

[gary]

The author at the Keck Visitor Center at Waimea.
This is also the headquarters for the Keck and at 800m altitude is a more
comfortable elevation for many of the workers and astronomers to work
rather than being at the summit, where one's judgement can become
impaired. Waimea is the greener transition zone between the dry and
wet side of the island.

The group at the Visitor Center. The place to pick up your Keck T-shirts and caps.

[gary]

Panorama atop Mauna Kea

Author at summit. A beautiful day and the sunshine kept it comfortable
despite the temperature just above the freezing point.

[gary]

One of the other advantages of being on an island with the vantage
point of sunsets over the ocean was that we were able to observe
the celebrated "green flash" phenomena on multiple occasions.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_flash

It was visible naked eye but observing was dramatically enhanced by using
binoculars.

Thankfully two of our team members had brought with them their Canon
image stabilized binos including a really nice brand-new pair of 18x50's.

A bright green arc would first appear on the left and right side of the circumference of the sun.
This would linger for a couple of seconds and then suddenly the two arcs would join across the top,
creating a bright green rim. The whole event would last possibly 3 seconds in all through
binos and a fraction of that naked eye.

We never tired of watching it and the setting sun signalled it was time
to enjoy a margarita. :lol:

[aworley]

Wow! Fantastic Gary. Thx for the post!

[RobF]

Just wow. Thanks for the fantastic write up of a fantastic trip Gary....!

[Sunfish]

One hell of a spot to pitch your tent.

[gary]

Thanks Dennis,

The internal combustion engines on the two vehicles we used continued
to operate fine above the 10,000' point but of course their efficiency
would be much lower.

The section of road from the 9200' point to the summit changes from
minimally curving tarmac to well-graded gravel with switchbacks.
There is no guard rail but the road is wide but you take it easy.

That last section of road is advised to be 4WD only. You need to engage
a low gear and not ride the brakes. There is less air to cool the brakes
than there is at sea level. There are no shortage of pictures
and videos on the internet where someone has taken up a 2WD and
ridden the brakes coming down and the vehicle has caught ablaze.

For example :-
https://youtu.be/btrqVlCLpVs

One of the vehicles we had also had real-time tyre pressure level
monitoring and they remained normal.

The highway down from the the summit road to the coast - what is
called the Saddle Road - doesn't muck around either. It just goes down
and down and down. You have to remember to swallow every now and then
for your ears to pop otherwise you begin to wonder why everything has
gone so quiet. :lol:

There are some emergency truck run-off spots on the Saddle Highway
going down. It's a superb piece of road engineering with a myriad of
cat's eye reflectors. Apparently their use is not as common in the US
as they are here.

Local Hawaiians are protesting about the construction of the Thirty Metre
Telescope (TMT). They had set up a tent city protest camp and were
blocking the road to the summit right up until two weeks before we arrived.
Operations at the observatories had been shut down as a result for 2
months.

The protesters agreed to move their protest to the side of the road
on the proviso that no TMT workers go up to the summit. So our timing
was lucky.

Hawaiian flags flown upside down were a common symbol of protest not
only over the TMT but as desire to secede from the Union.

[Sunfish]

Truly paradise for astronomers. Great images and a great experience of seeing. Incredible place for all the sciences . Humboldt heaven.

[gary]

One of the Keck mirror cells inside the mirror lab at Waimea. The mirror
is face down and the complex of levers and actuators can be seen.
An adhesive whose performance had been non-optimal was painstakingly
replaced on the back of each cell where it interfaces with the levers.
A multi-year exercise now nearing completion for the twin 10 metre
telescopes, 72 segments in all.

A schematic of the back of a Keck mirror segment.

Inside the Keck mechanical engineering test lab with actuators on self levelling
workbenches.

Closeup of a Keck actuator.

[strongmanmike]

Awesome holiday Gary and wonderful photos very envious. I experienced some exceptional dark skies 3hrs west of Cairns at 17deg South, back at the start of Sept last year and while I wasn't 1/2 way up into t he stratosphere like you we're, it was the first time I had seen the full, zodiacal light, zodical bridge and geguanshein right across the sky from horizon to horizon, spectacular :thumbsup: One question, did the potential detrimental effect of Starlink satellites and other similar planned networks come up in you discussions with any in the professional astronomical community?

Mike

[gary]

Thanks Mike,

The ready appearance of zodiacal light and gegenschein are indeed
excellent metrics for the merit of a dark sky site.

I hope you get the chance to visit Mauna Kea some day. The transparency
is absolutely stunning.

Our primary contacts were with some of the Keck personnel such as
the main mirror lab technician, the head electrical engineer and a staff
astronomer who works with the infrared instrumentation. There was
some brief discussion of Starlink but the main focus of astronomy
politics there is the future of observation on Mauna Kea itself.

Native Hawaiians regard the mountain as sacred and aren't just
opposed to the construction of the Thirty Metre Telescope (TMT)
but all of the observatories up there at present.

The TMT is a US$1.4 billion project and if it does not get built there,
it will be built somewhere else in the world such as the Canary Islands.
However, Manua Kea is regarded as the ideal place.

Currently the TMT has a state supreme court ruling upholding its
construction permit and another state supreme court ruling upholding
the University of Hawaii's sub-lease on the land for the construction site.

Now the battle is shifting to the University of Hawaii's master lease which
covers all the land for all the observatories including Subaru, the Kecks
and Gemini North telescopes.

But the protests go much deeper than just the telescopes and can be traced
back to 1893 when the Hawaiian Kingdom was overthrown.

If you go into a supermarket in Hawaii and for that matter anywhere in
the continental United States. most pineapples and bananas are supplied
by the giant Dole food company. Sanford Dole, of the then Hawaiian
Pineapple Company, led a coup with the help of the American government
over the ruling monarchy back in the 1890's and Hawaiians lost both
their land and much of their culture.

I sense that the protests are largely about that and the telescopes make an easy target.

[gary]

Thanks Hemi,

How wonderful you got to observe at 10,000' on Haleakala in Maui.

I've been to the summit of Halakala many years ago for the sunrise
and along with so many others had to resort to the blankets borrowed
from the hotel room to stay warm. :lol:

Half the space in my pack this time round was devoted to cold weather gear.

The dome of the new Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope on Haleakala
was clearly visible naked eye from my bedroom window and from
my front balcony of the rental house we stayed at on the Big Island.

One morning Dave Kriege, who had referred to Google maps, asked us
to estimate how far away it was. A couple of us guessed about 45km.

We were therefore stunned to find that it was over 99km distant!
A testimony to how clean the air is in that part of the world.

With a 26.6m dome diameter, that would correspond to about 55 arc
seconds across. about twice the maximum angular resolution of the
human eye.

[Outcast]

Wow Gary, what an awesome experience...

although... my god it looked cold!!

I wish Cairns would invest in similar lighting technology & policy... for a small town we sure put out some light.. :(

Something to add to my bucket list perhaps... even if it's only taking a small travel scope on holidays there...

Thankyou for sharing your experience

[gary]

Thanks Carlton,

The freezer suit is definitely recommended with temperatures hovering
around the freezing point. I was comfortable.

However, the afternoon we went up to neighbouring Mauna Loa for
the sunset, I had only packed a sweater and once the sun began to set,
boy did it get cold!

Most of my travelling companions were from the Great Lakes region
where shovelling 20 foot deep piles of snow in their back yards
at this time of year is the norm. So when one of them said to me that
afternoon, "Now it is getting cold!", you better believe it. :)

As soon as I got back in the vehicle I set my seat heater control to high.
It is often said that keeping your head warm is the most important thing.
But I can testify that if you heat your rump it seems to work equally well. :)

At the top of Mauna Kea we were lucky as if the wind gets up it can whip
up ice crystals and small lava stones which I am told can really sting.

If you ever get down to the South Pacific Star Party at Ilford, the freezer
suits are common wear there at these latitudes. I always take one
when observing.

But it, woollen gloves, thermal head gear, leather boots with thick
insulating soles and an additional jumper and jacket are not in most
people's packing list for a Hawaiian holiday.

At the 1000' level where the house was, you would be right at home.
Every day was just like the next with a perfect temperature.



I wish everywhere would do it!

It is remarkable how little light you actually need to make even a suburban
area safely lit. The monochromatic light makes it easier to filter out
when imaging.



Hope you get to do it some time. The difference between Oahu and the
Big Island is chalk and cheese. The Big Island is more local, far less
people, more rural and very laid-back.

And as an observing location, as good as it gets.

[lazjen]

Great write up for what looks like a great trip. Fantastic.

[multiweb]

Very cool report and photos to boot Gary. Those lava fields are impressive. The road looks like a carpet laid out on top of black bubble wrap. Amazing to see some shrubs still growing on top of it.

I had no idea there were so many types of actuators at the back of those segments. Must be a lot easier to realuminize them too given their size (just picturing the AAT primary move). I assume they have more segments than the scope primary needs so they can rotate them for maintenance? Are they interchangeable or do they have a very specific base profile for the spot they fit in? Or do they have a "generic" profile then the actuators push it in place depending where they are located in the mirror array? Also if that's the case can they use them on the other primary mirror next door seamlessly?

[xelasnave]

Thanks Gary. Almost as good as being there to read your report.
Alex

[wavelandscott]

What a great trip! Thanks for sharing, something else to add to the bucket list.

[big-blue]

Thanks Gary. I enjoyed reading your great write-up of a fantastic trip.

Brought back memories of my own trip up there last year, albeit at the mass-tourism level.
Even so ( for those of us who are not fortunate enough to have your local connections),
I highly recommend the Manu Kea astro viewing tour by 4WD bus that starts with sunset viewing at the observatories,
then descends to 9000ft for viewing of glossies via C11.

An unexpected highlight for me was the spectacular sunset shadow of MK extending many kms over the cloud base below.

The Big Island is an amazing place to visit, on many levels, and deserves to be on everyones bucket list.

[gary]

Thanks Marc,

Each mirror has 36 hexagonal segments and the surface shape of
a segment depends on its distance from the center. It turns out that there
are six different surface shapes.

So they carry spares which they can swap-out during re-aluminizing.
Each segment is 1.8m across and as you mentioned it is a lot easier to
handle something of that size compared to the logistics of each time they
re-aluminize the 3.8m AAT.

We were given the opportunity to stare down through a glass porthole
into the aluminizing chamber itself and the technician kindly showed us
a high speed video of the aluminizing process where the pellet of
aluminum is vaporized.

The glass itself was manufactured by Schott in Germany and is a material
they trademarked called Zerodur. It has a particularly low coefficient of
thermal expansion, a couple of orders of magnitude better than
borosilicate.

There was a sample of it at the Visitors Center and it is a golden/yellow
transparent color. When you pick it up, because it looks, weighs and
feels different to everyday materials you normally handle, you instantly
know you are holding something "spacey" and different. Even if you
didn't know what it is, because it doesn't feel like glass but is so
optically pure, you would guess it is probably expensive.

One of us (not me) was presented with a small cube of it as a memento.
A beautiful gift and a real talking point.

[multiweb]

Oh wow. Is the whole telescope design a Ritchey Chrétien or other? Must be a manufacturing nightmare. How do they independantly test segments that have those "exotic" asymetric shapes I imagine yet focus each area of light to the same point? Do they use some kind of scafold in the factory with the elements in their respective position from the optical axis for figuring and testing?


1.8m? Those trolleys didn't look that big in your photo, it was hard to have a sense of scale but they're massive on their own.

[multiweb]

Great shot to see the opening hours. ;)

[gary]

Hi Marc,

It is an RC design.

As I understand it, to fabricate a segment, the clever part was to polish
a blank as a sphere whilst applying specific differing forces around the
edge of the glass. Apparently polishing a sphere is relatively easy
(Mark Suching was here a short while ago and I could have asked him).
When they then released the forces the glass which had been under stress
magically popped into the right shape and was then ready for final figuring.

When they built the AAT back in the 70's it was the first large digital
computer controlled telescope. We take computer control of telescopes
for granted now but at the time the AAT was built it was regarded as a risky
decision. However in the case of the AAT the computer is just performing
the task of pointing and tracking.

With the Kecks, not only is the mount itself computer controlled but
the optics are computer controlled. In order to maintain its figure,
sensors can measure multiple positions on each segment with micron
precision and actuators then in realtime change its position or shape
to compensate as the primary shifts its position as a function of gravity.

It's funny thinking of the actual optics of your telescope being
computer controlled but without it the Kecks would not be able to
achieve their incredible optical performance. These are the telescopes
that first detected extrasolar planets.

One other notable characteristic of the Kecks is their ability to image
into the infrared. The optics, instrumentation and siting so high
up in the dry atmosphere were all designed to achieve this. So a lot
of their observations are done at infrared wavelengths which is precisely
what you want for deeply red-shifted targets.

[gary]

Thanks Big-blue!

It is an amazing place.

With the road blockage up the mountain by the protesters up until
only 6 weeks ago, not only were all the observatories shut down for a couple
of months but the operators who offered the summit sunset and astro
adventure tours.

In talking to one of our contacts at the Keck, it set back some of those
tour operators enough that they had not resumed operations.

When we were there, the Visitor Information Station at the 9200' point
had been cleared out of all merchandise and the only thing they had
on offer was self-service instant coffee. They had a couple of solar
scopes set up outside and there was an AP mount sitting in the corner
inside.

Hopefully the operators will get up to speed again as they fill a valuable
niche but the spectre of the protest tent city at the road junction still
remains and with it the possibility that the road might get blocked again
if the truce is broken.

My advice to anyone going to the Big Island is to check in advance.

For dedicated enthusiasts one might also try contacting the West
Hawaii Astronomy Club (WHAC) for additional ideas. Some of the
members work at the Keck.

[gary]

On the west coast of the Big Island is Kealakekua Bay, which is the
place where Captain Cook was killed by the native Hawaiians on the
14 February 1779. That will be precisely 241 years ago tomorrow.

I wasn't prepared for what a beautiful place it was. The water is an aqua
blue, there is a steep cliff face that dramatically rises above the water and
there is a rocky black lava rock beach landing.

In some ways it is probably no coincidence that this is such a beautiful
place. The cliff face was the chosen burial place of Hawaiian royalty
and the royals lived there.

In the third photo below you might make out a white obelisk on the
opposite shore which marks the spot where Cook died.

A km away is the town of Captain Cook on Highway 11.

[multiweb]

Ha ok. Sounds like what Celestron was doing to mass produce their corrector plates. They had a few bases machined with an inverse profile that had the corrector shape then vacuum the glass on top of it, polish it flat then when released the flat machined face would take the right shape.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US3889431A/en

[Sunfish]

Very beautiful place. The Japanese telescope on Mauna Kea ,I remember reading , is also a system relying on computerised actuator control to keeps its mirror within minute tolerances and is also an RC although a single 8m mirror I think. I understood this used an actuator system developed after much research in Japan. I think I have seen an online video of the development Are the systems similar?

[Sunfish]

As indicated in this link
https://subarutelescope.org/Topics/2002/06/27a/index.html

[ngcles]

Hi Gary & All,

Great reports -- much enjoyed. Sounds like a fantastic time was had by all.

Best,

L.

[astroron]

Fantastic report Gary,with images to match.
Makes me want to go back again.
Very jealous of your observing with a 22" at the 9000' mark
I used the 11" at what is now the visitors center 30 years ago.
Helped the night guide out so he let me use the scope for a while
after all the visitors had left.
Definitely an observing trip of a life time for you
Thanks for sharing.
Cheers:thumbsup:

[GrahamL]

Thanks for sharing Gary stunning images btw .



My recent suggested holiday thoughts ,Active volcanoe for a look

or a cruise arnt very popular any more .


How long does it take to fly there and hows accomadation price wise ?

[gary]

Thanks Graham,

In 2018 Kilauea spectacularly erupted on the Big Island and you didn't
need to be on a boat to see hot lava, though where it flows into the ocean
has been a popular vantage point.

Friends who were observing at Mauna Kea at the time could see the red
glow at night 48km away.

One of our Keck contacts provided jaw dropping accounts of lava eruptions
seen up close.

Alas, Kilauea is dormant at the moment, which is probably okay by the
locals, but a friend was pointing out to me the size of the caldera before
2018 compared to post 2018. Unbelievable how much bigger that hole is!

It is 9.5 hours to fly from Sydney to Honolulu and another 30 minutes
from there to Kona on the Big Island.

Flights between the islands are relatively cheap and when specials
are on for Sydney to Hawaii, can be incredibly cheap as well.

The Australian/US Dollar exchange rate doesn't help Australian visitors at
the moment and most things on the Big Island and more expensive than
on the continental US. For example, fuel prices are Sydney prices.

Food is relatively expensive so in a restaurant you find yourself spending
about USD50 (AUD77) per head rather than the AUD50 you might expect
to pay in Sydney.

However, accommodation on the Big Island is comparatively less expensive
than that on Oahu.

An entire modern three bedroom AirBNB rental house can be had
for USD250 per night.

By comparison, a budget hotel in Waikiki in Oahu will cost that per night.

[Retrograde]

Great write-up & pictures Gary - thanks for posting.

Also brought back some memories for me as I visited the Big Island & Mauna Kea back in early 2017. It's truly like nowhere else on earth!

[gary]

Hi Ray,

Thanks for your various comments throughout the thread which is
appreciated.

The remarkable thing about the Subaru primary is that it is monolithic with
an 8.2m diameter.

The Subaru solves a similar problem in that the optics themselves are computer controlled.

All the next generation large telescopes are opting for the segmented
approach (e.g. GMT, TMT, ELT)

In any case digital computers being crucial to the optics ability
to accurately focus light is here to stay.

[Deeno]

Wow!!! I am speechless! Totally without speech!
Thanks for such a detailed report Gary
Amazing opportunity..

[Nikolas]

Whata trip, what an adventure, thanks for sharing it with us Gary

[Sunfish]

Thank you Gary. Excelled your yourself with this report. I suppose the Japanese sensors and actuators on their Subaru mirror on Hawaii was novel 15years ago . A mirror made of individual segments does now seem the choice now rather than a single piece used there. It is interesting that both scopes are RC configurations and used for variety of types of observation. Advances in computer technology perhaps drive these changes.