The Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) is located near the summit of Mauna Kea mountain on Hawaii's Big Island at an altitude of 4,204 meters (13,793 feet), part of the Mauna Kea Observatory. Operational since 1979, the telescope is a Prime Focus/Cassegrain configuration with a usable aperture diameter of . CFHT currently planning a refurbishment to the facility in the 2020s. The facility will be reconstructed with a new 11-m telescope to produce the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer, retaining the same base building and infrastructure. First light is expected in 2029.
Introduction
Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope
Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope | Introduction
It is located near the summit of Mauna Kea mountain on Hawaii's Big Island. It  is located near the summit of Mauna Kea mountain on Hawaii's Big Island at an altitude of 4,204 meters Near the summit of Mauna Kea mountain on Hawaii's Big Island. It is located near the summit of Mauna Kea mountain on Hawaii's Big Island
when was the last time mauna loa volcano erupted
user
March 24 to April 15, 1984.
assistant
what is the main entity?
user
It is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi in the Pacific Ocean.
assistant
what is its weather like?
user
It has a tropical climate with warm temperatures at lower elevations and cool to cold temperatures higher up year-round.
assistant
who monitors this volcano?
user
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, a branch of the United States Geological Survey.
assistant
who founded it ?
user
Thomas A. Jaggar.
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where is it located?
user
A temporary offices located in Hilo on the Island of Hawaii.
assistant
mention few volcanoes it monitors?
user
Kīlauea, Mauna Loa, Hualālai, and Haleakalā.
assistant
name few dangers of the second?
user
It is a sudden, massive collapse of the volcano's flanks,  large earthquakes could trigger rapid flank collapses along these lines, creating massive landslides and possibly triggering equally large tsunamis.
assistant
any recent updates seen in the third?
user
The 2006 Kiholo Bay earthquake.
assistant
where did this natural calamity occur?
user
The epicenter was just to the north in Kiholo Bay near Māhukona.
assistant
mention few destructions it caused?
user
Significant structural damages at least 61 buildings were destroyed and red-tagged by officials, roads and bridges collapsed or had deep cracks.
assistant
any electrical failure associated with it?
user
Power plants automatically shut off power to prevent damage, and generators tripped on Oahu, causing overloads in the electrical grid.
assistant
any observatory body associated ?
user
Yes, a number of the telescopes at the Mauna Kea Observatories sustained minor damage, primarily Kecks 1 and 2 at the W. M. Keck Observatory, and the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope.
assistant
where is the last situated?
user
The Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) is located near the summit of Mauna Kea mountain on Hawaii's Big Island at an altitude of 4,204 meters (13,793 feet), part of the Mauna Kea Observatory. Operational since 1979, the telescope is a Prime Focus/Cassegrain configuration with a usable aperture diameter of . CFHT currently planning a refurbishment to the facility in the 2020s. The facility will be reconstructed with a new 11-m telescope to produce the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer, retaining the same base building and infrastructure. First light is expected in 2029.
Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope | Introduction
During the earthquake and aftershocks, a number of the telescopes at the Mauna Kea Observatories sustained minor damage, primarily Kecks 1 and 2 at the W. M. Keck Observatory, and the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). The CFHT was operational and back online as of October 19, but the Kecks were not restored to full operation until February 28, 2007.
2006 Kiholo Bay earthquake | Mauna Kea Observatory
ATLAS, the "Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System" uses two 0.5-metre telescopes located at Haleakala and Mauna Loa on two of the Hawaiian Islands. With a field of view of 30 square degrees each, the telescopes survey the observable sky down to apparent magnitude 19 with 4 exposures every two clear nights. The survey has been fully operational with these two telescopes since 2017, and in 2018 obtained NASA funding for two additional telescopes. Both will be sited in the Southern hemisphere, with one at the South African Astronomical Observatory, and one in Chile. They are expected to take 18 months to build.
Asteroid impact prediction | ATLAS
In order to get a permit to build the Thirty Meter Telescope project on Mauna Kea, the University of Hawaii had to commit to closing and dismantling three existing observatories on the mountain. The three chosen were the CSO, the UKIRT, and the Hoku Keʻa telescope. Two additional telescopes must also be removed by 2033, but those have not been selected as of 1 April 2019. On April 30, 2009, Caltech announced plans to decommission the CSO, transferring ongoing research to the next-generation Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope (CCAT) in Chile. The plans called for CSO to be dismantled, beginning in 2016, with its site returned to a natural state by 2018.
Caltech Submillimeter Observatory | Decommissioning
Planned new telescopes, including the Thirty Meter Telescope, have attracted controversy due to their potential cultural and ecological impact. The multi-telescope "outrigger" extension to the Keck telescopes, which required new sites, was eventually canceled. Three or four of the mountain's 13 existing telescopes must be dismantled over the next decade with the TMT proposal to be the last area on Mauna Kea on which any telescope would ever be built.
Mauna Kea Observatories | Controversies
Telescopes found at the summit of Mauna Kea are funded by government agencies of various nations. The University of Hawaiʻi directly administers two telescopes. In total, there are twelve facilities housing thirteen telescopes at or around the summit of Mauna Kea. CSO, UKIRT, and Hoku Kea are scheduled for decommissioning as part of the Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan.
Mauna Kea Observatories | Telescopes
Other groups began requesting subleases on the newly accessible mountaintop. By 1970, two telescopes had been constructed by the United States Air Force and Lowell Observatory. In 1973, Canada and France agreed to build the 3.6 m CFHT on Mauna Kea. However, local organizations started to raise concerns about the environmental impact of the observatory. This led the Department of Land and Natural Resources to prepare an initial management plan, drafted in 1977 and supplemented in 1980. In January 1982, the University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents approved a plan to support the continued development of scientific facilities at the site.
Mauna Kea Observatories | Origin and background
The W. M. Keck Observatory is a two-telescope astronomical observatory at an elevation of 4,145 meters (13,600 ft) near the summit of Mauna Kea in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Both telescopes have aperture primary mirrors, and when completed in 1993 (Keck 1) and 1996 (Keck 2) were the largest astronomical telescopes in the world. They are currently the 3rd and 4th largest telescopes.
W. M. Keck Observatory | Introduction
UH rebuilt its small astronomy department into a new Institute for Astronomy, and in 1968 the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources gave it a 65-year lease for all land within a radius of its telescope, essentially that above . On its completion in 1970, the UH was the seventh largest optical/infrared telescope in the world. By 1970, two telescopes had been constructed by the US Air Force and Lowell Observatory. In 1973, Canada and France agreed to build the 3.6 m CFHT on Mauna Kea. However, local organisations started to raise concerns about the environmental impact of the observatory.
Mauna Kea | Summit observatories
On July 20, 2019, an online petition titled "A Call to Divest Canada's Research Funding for the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea" has been posted on Change.org.
National Research Council (Canada) | Thirty Meter Telescope
Significant sized Antarctic icebergs have been observed at least as far north as 50 degrees south in the Pacific Ocean, which is well inside the sailing routes of the time. Cape Horn is located at 56 degrees south.
Marlborough (1876 ship) | Last voyage
"Leleākūhonua" was first observed on 13 October 2015 at the Mauna Kea Observatory , by American astronomers David Tholen, Chad Trujillo and Scott Sheppard during their astronomical survey for objects located beyond the Kuiper Cliff. The unofficial discovery was publicly announced on 1 October 2018. The survey uses two principal telescopes: For the Northern hemisphere, the 8.2-meter Subaru Telescope with its Hyper Suprime Camera at Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii, and for the Southern hemisphere, the 4-meter Blanco telescope and its Dark Energy Camera at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. For follow-up observations to determine an object's orbit, the astronomers are using the Magellan and the Discovery Channel telescopes.
541132 Leleākūhonua | Discovery
The altitude and isolation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean makes Mauna Kea one of the best locations on earth for ground-based astronomy. It is an ideal location for submillimeter, infrared and optical observations. The seeing statistics show that Mauna Kea is the best site in terms of optical and infrared image quality; for example, the CFHT site has a median seeing of 0.43 arcseconds. Accommodations for research astronomers are located at the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy (often called Hale Pōhaku), by unpaved steep road from the summit at above sea level. An adjacent visitor information station is located at .
Mauna Kea Observatories | Location
The Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) was a 10.4-meter (34 ft) diameter submillimeter wavelength telescope situated alongside the 15-meter (49 ft) James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) at Mauna Kea Observatories. It was engaged in submillimetre astronomy, of the terahertz radiation band. The telescope closed on September 18, 2015. As of April 2019, the telescope is set to be dismantled and its site remediated in the near future as part of the Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan.
Caltech Submillimeter Observatory | Introduction
Today, Mauna Kea hosts the world's largest location for telescope observations in infrared and submillimeter astronomy. The land itself is protected by the U.S. Historical Preservation Act due to its significance to Hawaiian culture, but this still allowed development.
Opposition to the Mauna Kea Observatories | Expansion renews opposition
The Mauna Kea Observatories (MKO) are a number of independent astronomical research facilities and large telescope observatories that are located at the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi, United States. The facilities are located in a 525-acre (212 ha) special land use zone known as the "Astronomy Precinct", which is located within the 11,228-acre (4,544 ha) Mauna Kea Science Reserve. The Astronomy Precinct was established in 1967 and is located on land protected by the Historical Preservation Act for its significance to Hawaiian culture. The presence and continued construction of telescopes is highly controversial due to Mauna Kea's centraility in native Hawaiian religion and culture, as well as for a variety of environmental reasons.
Mauna Kea Observatories | Introduction
On the Island of Hawaii, geologists have long recognized deposits formed by glaciers on Mauna Kea during recent ice ages. The latest work indicates that deposits of three glacial episodes since 150,000 to 200,000 years ago are preserved on the volcano. Glacial moraines on the volcano formed about 70,000 years ago and from about 40,000 to 13,000 years ago. If glacial deposits were formed on Mauna Loa, they have long since been buried by younger lava flows.
Last Glacial Maximum | North America
The two 10-meter aperture Keck telescopes are located on the dormant Mauna Kea volcano on the island of Hawaii. They are operated for the California Association for Research in Astronomy (CARA), the University of Hawaii (UH), and NASA by the William M. Keck Observatory (WMKO) in Waimea, HI. As a partner in the Keck telescopes, NASA receives 1/6th of the time available each year for astronomical observations. The proposal solicitation, selection, and scheduling is managed for NASA by NExScI, with calls for proposals issued twice each year (with due dates in September and March) for the two observing semesters on the telescopes.
NASA Exoplanet Science Institute | NASA Keck time administration
Significantly predating the current observatories there is evidence of active astronomy on Mauna Kea in the 1901 Land Office Map of the Island of Hawaii showing the "Hawaii Astronomy Station" near the Mauna Kea summit. After studying photos for NASA's Apollo program that contained greater detail than any ground-based telescope, Gerard Kuiper began seeking an arid site for infrared studies. While he first began looking in Chile, he also made the decision to perform tests in the Hawaiian Islands. Tests on Maui's Haleakalā were promising, but the mountain was too low in the inversion layer and often covered by clouds.
Mauna Kea Observatories | Origin and background
HAO's telescopes are located at its Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, near the summit of that volcano on the big island of Hawaii. NCAR's solar observatory shares space on the campus of NOAA's larger Mauna Loa Observatory. HAO's researchers are based at NCAR headquarters, in Boulder, Colorado.
High Altitude Observatory | Mission and vision
The location is near ideal because of its dark skies from lack of light pollution, good astronomical seeing, low humidity, high elevation of , position above most of the water vapor in the atmosphere, clean air, good weather and low latitude location.
Mauna Kea Observatories | Introduction
Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is a proposed extremely large telescope (ELT) that has become controversial due to its planned location on Mauna Kea, which is considered sacred land according to the native Hawaiians, on the island of Hawaii in the United States.The Government of Canada has made a commitment to spend $243.5 million over a period of 10 years for the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope. The telescope's enclosure was designed by Dynamic Structures Ltd. in British Columbia. In an online petition, a group of Canadian academics have called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau together with Industry Minister Navdeep Bains and Science Minister Kirsty Duncan to divest Canadian funding from the project.
Kirsty Duncan | Controversies
Observations and conclusions concerning the trajectory of Oumuamua were primarily obtained with data from the Pan-STARRS1 Telescope, part of the Spaceguard Survey, and the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), and its composition and shape from the Very Large Telescope and the Gemini South telescope in Chile, as well as the Keck II telescope in Hawaii. These were collected by Karen J. Meech, Robert Weryk and their colleagues and published in "Nature" on 20 November 2017. Post announcement, the space-based telescopes Hubble and Spitzer joined in the observations. Oumuamua is small and dark. It was not seen in STEREO HI-1A observations near its perihelion on 9 September 2017, limiting its brightness to ~13.5 mag.
ʻOumuamua | Observations
The Submillimeter Array (SMA) is another interferometer, located at Mauna Kea, consisting of eight 6-metre diameter radio telescopes. The largest existing submillimetre telescope, the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, is also located on Mauna Kea.
Submillimetre astronomy | Submillimetre astronomy from the ground
Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is a proposed extremely large telescope (ELT) that has become controversial due to its planned location on Mauna Kea, which is considered sacred land according to the native Hawaiians, on the island of Hawaii in the United States. On April 6, 2015, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Canada would commit $243.5 million over a period of 10 years. The telescope's enclosure was designed by Dynamic Structures Ltd. in British Columbia. In an online petition, a group of Canadian academics have called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, together with Navdeep Bains (then Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development) and Kirsty Duncan (then Minister Of Science) to divest Canadian funding from the project.
National Research Council (Canada) | Thirty Meter Telescope
Located in the outer chords between the hexagonal array of fibre positioners and the circular field of view are three imaging cameras used for telescope pointing acquisition, guidance, and focus measurement. A mechanical de-rotator stage keeps the instrumentation package stable in the sky coordinate system as the parallactic angle changes during observations.
Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer | Telescope and enclosure
The Joint Astronomy Centre (JAC) was a management organisation based in Hilo, Hawaii, which from c.1980-2015 operated two large telescopes at Mauna Kea Observatory on behalf of an international consortium from the United Kingdom, Canada and the Netherlands, and provided support for other telescopes and public outreach activities. The JAC also maintained the Starlink Project between 2006 and 2015. Following withdrawal of funding by the partner nations, on March 1, 2015 the Joint Astronomy Centre closed and the facility was handed over to the East Asian Observatory which now runs the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. The major telescopes formerly operated by the JAC were:
Joint Astronomy Centre | Introduction
The TMT will be at the highest altitude of all the proposed ELTs. The telescope has government-level support from several nations. Demonstrations attracted press coverage after October 2014, when construction was temporarily halted due to a blockade of the roadway. While construction of the telescope was set to resume on April 2 and later on June 24, 2015, it was blocked by further protests each time. In 2015, Governor David Ige announced several changes to the management of Mauna Kea, including a requirement that the TMT's site will be the last new site on Mauna Kea to be developed for a telescope.
Thirty Meter Telescope | Introduction
In cooperation with AURA, the TMT project completed a multi-year evaluation of five sites: The TMT Observatory Corporation board of directors narrowed the list to two sites, one in each hemisphere, for further consideration: Cerro Armazones in Chile's Atacama Desert and Mauna Kea on Hawaii Island. On July 21, 2009, the TMT board announced Mauna Kea as the preferred site. The final TMT site selection decision was based on a combination of scientific, financial, and political criteria. Chile is also where the European Southern Observatory is building the E-ELT. If both next-generation telescopes were in the same hemisphere, there would be many astronomical objects that neither could observe.
Thirty Meter Telescope | Proposed locations
The observatory is located on a plateau about south of Canadian Forces Station (CFS) Alert, which is itself located on the shore of the Lincoln Sea, from the mouth of the Nares Strait. The region is characterized by recent glacial activity, with still extant glaciers visible among the peaks of the United States Range approximately to the west. The landscape immediately surrounding the observatory is undulating, marked by cliffs and crevasses and a number of small rivers which can become impassable during freshet. To the south, the Winchester Hills are the dominant visible feature. A number of small freshwater lakes provide CFS Alert (and by extension, the observatory) with drinking water.
Dr. Neil Trivett Global Atmosphere Watch Observatory | Geography
The James Cook Observatory, or just "Cook Observatory" was the most eastern astronomical observatory in the world. It was located on Titirangi (Kaiti Hill), Gisborne, North Island, New Zealand. It was named after Captain James Cook. In 2019 it was knocked down due to its structure not being safe.
James Cook Observatory | Introduction
Fortunately HAT-P-7 was located in the overlapping area between fields G154 and G155 allowing the transit to be independently confirmed by the HAT-6 (Arizona) and HAT-9 (Hawaii) telescopes which observed the neighbouring field G155. Field G155 was observed from late July 2004 to late September 2005 gathering an additional 11,480 exposures for a total of 16,620 data points.
HAT-P-7b | Discovery
Since the mid-20th century, a number of astronomical observatories have been constructed at very high altitudes, above . The largest and most notable of these is the Mauna Kea Observatory, located near the summit of a volcano in Hawaiʻi. The Chacaltaya Astrophysical Observatory in Bolivia, at , was the world's highest permanent astronomical observatory from the time of its construction during the 1940s until 2009. It has now been surpassed by the new University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory, an optical-infrared telescope on a remote mountaintop in the Atacama Desert of Chile.
Observatory | Highest astronomical observatories
By the mid-1990s, the observatory remained the largest single-mirror site in Canada, but it was considered small by modern standards. The cutting edge of Canadian university astronomy studies was involved in some of the world's largest observatories: the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array and the Gemini Observatory. None of these telescopes are located in Canada. After the UTSO was closed, in 1998 the Canadian Astronomical Society, a society of university astronomers, published a long range plan emphasizing the study of the origins of structure in the universe, a task well-suited to cutting-edge telescopes but ill-suited to the DDO.
David Dunlap Observatory | Closure, sale, re-development and re-opening
The criteria for the selection of an observatory site were several. The site had to have an elevation of at least 4 000 ft (in order to keep atmospheric turbulence to a minimum), not be subject to rapid changes in weather or extreme temperature, and be distant from industrial and population centres. These conditions restricted the observatory to southern British Columbia or Alberta. Five sites were initially studied (3 in BC and 2 in Alberta), before settling on Mount Kobau in British Columbia. A 16-inch telescope was set up on a temporary basis to confirm the site quality. Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson officially announced the observatory location on October 28, 1964.
Mount Kobau National Observatory | Location
After Gillett's untimely death on April 22, 2001, the telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, was officially named the "Fredrick C. Gillett Gemini Telescope".
Edward P. Ney | Doctoral students
The reserve was established in 1981. In 1998, the area leased to the Mauna Kea Observatory (called the Kea Science Reserve) was modified to exclude the Ice Age reserve. Another small parcel surrounding the rocky cinder cone called Puu Pōhaku at , contains a rare example of permafrost in the tropics. A 2004 study found the rare wēkiu bug ("Nysius wekiuicola") in the reserve.
Mauna Kea Ice Age Reserve | Location
A number of the telescopes sustained minor damage during the October 15, 2006 Kiholo Bay earthquake and aftershocks. JCMT was performing an inclinometry run and recorded the earthquake on its tilt sensors. Both CFHT and W. M. Keck Observatory were operational and back online by October 19.
Mauna Kea Observatories | 2006 Kiholo Bay earthquake
Beginning in July 2019, various groups opposed to the Thirty Meter Telescope gathered at Puu Huluhulu to block Mauna Kea Access Road and temporarily stop its construction, despite the Hawaii Supreme Court's ruling to allow construction to move forward.
Puʻu Huluhulu | Introduction
The KEASA observatory is located on the west side of Kauaʻi at the Pacific Missile Range Facility near Barking Sands Beach at an altitude of . It is funded as a joint venture with Kauai Community College. The observatory houses the Bob Byers telescopes:
Kauaʻi Educational Association for Science and Astronomy | Observatory
It was cancelled in 2006, after a court found NASA's Environmental Impact Statement was improperly limited to just the telescope area. An ongoing proposal for one of the world's largest optical telescopes, the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) was the focus of protests concerning the continued development of the mountain Hawaiians consider the most sacred peak in the island chain. On 30 October 2018, the Supreme Court of Hawaii approved the resumption of construction of the TMT.
Opposition to the Mauna Kea Observatories | Introduction
The United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope (UKIRT) is a 3.8 metre (150 inch) infrared reflecting telescope, the second largest dedicated infrared (1 to 30 micrometres) telescope in the world. It is located on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i as part of Mauna Kea Observatory. Until 2014 it was operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre in Hilo. It was owned by the United Kingdom Science and Technology Facilities Council. UKIRT is currently being funded by NASA and operated under scientific cooperation between Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, the University of Hawaii, and the U. S. Naval Observatory. The telescope is set to be decommissioned after completion of the Thirty Meter Telescope as part of the Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan.
United Kingdom Infrared Telescope | Introduction
Astronomers from the European Union can also submit proposals through the Optical Infrared Coordination Network for Astronomy (OPTICON) access program.
Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope | Funding
The University of Hawai'i 88-inch (2.24-meter) telescope—called UH88, UH2.2, or simply 88 by members of the local astronomical community—is situated at the Mauna Kea Observatories and operated by the University's Institute for Astronomy. It was constructed in 1968, and entered service in 1970, at which point it was known as "The Mauna Kea Observatory". It became one of the first professional telescopes to be controlled by a computer. The telescope was built with funding from NASA, to support Solar System missions, and is controlled by the University of Hawai'i. The success of the telescope helped demonstrate the value of Mauna Kea for astronomical observations.
UH88 | Introduction
She soon accepted a job opportunity for a new program and joined the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii where she worked as an assistant and associate astronomer from 1971–1976. While in Hawaii, Wolff spent 17 years contributing to the conversion of Mauna Kea into one of the world's top sites for astronomy. At an elevation of , Mauna Kea is one of the clearest image sites due to its height and dryness. This changed ground-based astronomy and gained the attention of other astronomical organizations, eventually leading to the installation of the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope. Wolff also contributed to the construction of the SOAR 4.1-meter telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory near La Serena, Chile.
Sidney C. Wolff | PhD and postdoctoral research
W. M. Keck Observatory reported 90% of observations were remote by 2002, many from their facility in Waimea, on the plateau north of the mountain, and automation allowed control from California.
Onizuka Center for International Astronomy | History
Upon completion, this would have been the second largest telescope in the world, the only larger telescope being the 5.08 m (200 inch) Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory in California.
Mount Kobau National Observatory | Background
University of Canterbury Mount John Observatory (UCMJO), previously known as Mt John University Observatory (MJUO), is New Zealand's premier astronomical research observatory. It is situated at ASL atop Mount John at the northern end of the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island, and was established in 1965. There are many telescopes on site including: one 0.4-meter, two 0.6-meter, one 1.0-meter, and a new 1.8-meter "MOA Telescope" "(see details below)." The nearest population center is the resort town Lake Tekapo (pop. <500). Approximately 20% of nights at MJUO are photometric, with a larger number available for spectroscopic work and direct imaging photometry.
Mount John University Observatory | Introduction
On 23 September 2000, a more extensive search for irregular satellites was conducted by Gladman and Kavelaars using the 3.6-meter Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii. With a wide field of view along with a digital charge-coupled device camera, the CFHT covered a larger search area than the August observations, down to a limiting magnitude of 24.5. Gladman and Kavelaars reobserved the two satellites from August and identified two more new irregular satellite candidates: Siarnaq and Tarvos. Siarnaq, the brighter of the two, was detected at an apparent magnitude of 20. Shortly after the survey, the two candidates were reported to other astronomers for further confirmation.
Siarnaq | Discovery
The HATNet Project telescopes HAT-7, located at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in Arizona, and HAT-8, installed on the rooftop of Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Submillimeter Array building atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii, observed 33,000 stars in HATNet field G154, on nearly every night from late May to early August 2004. The light curves resulting from the 5140 exposures obtained were searched for transit signals and a very significant periodic drop in brightness was detected in the star GSC 03547–01402 (HAT-P-7), with a depth of approximately 7.0 millimagnitude, a period of 2.2047 days, and a duration of 4.1 hours.
HAT-P-7b | Discovery
Mauna Kea Observatory on the summit, an ideal location for astronomical seeing, is under the jurisdiction of the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy.
Hawaii Route 200 | Saddle Road
CFBDSIR 1458+10 B was discovered in 2011 by Liu et al. with laser guide star (LGS) adaptive optics (AO) system of the 10 m Keck II Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, using infra-red camera NIRC2 (the observations were made on 2010 May 22 and 2010 July 8 (UT)). In 2011 Liu et al. published a paper in "The Astrophysical Journal" where they presented discovery of CFBDSIR 1458+10 system component B (the only discovery presented in the article). Also they presented a near-infrared ("J"-band) trigonometric parallax of the system, measured using WIRCam on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), Mauna Kea, in seven epochs during the 2009–2010; and spectroscopy with the X-Shooter spectrograph at the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) Unit Telescope 2 (UT2) in Chile (the observations have been performed from May 5 to July 9, 2010), that allowed to calculate the temperature (and other physical parameters) of the two brown dwarfs.
CFBDSIR 1458+10 | Discovery of B
The Onizuka Center for International Astronomy, also known as Hale Pōhaku, is a complex of support facilities for the telescopes and other instruments that comprise the Mauna Kea Observatory atop Mauna Kea, on Hawaii island.
Onizuka Center for International Astronomy | Introduction
The observatory was originally named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II to commemorate her visit to Canada in the fall of 1964. It was later decided to name observatory after the site selected, and instead name the telescope after Queen Elizabeth II.
Mount Kobau National Observatory | Location
The corporation is bound by a tripartite agreement between the University of Hawaii at Manoa, in the United States, the National Research Council (NRC) in Canada and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France. CFHT also has partnerships with the National Astronomical Observatory of China (NAOC), the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA) in Taiwan, the National Laboratory of Astrophysics (LNA) in Brazil and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) in Korea. The contributions from these associate partners help fund CFHT's future instrumentation. Currently, CFHT observing time is offered to scientists from all the seven countries in the partnership.
Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope | Funding
Delays in the environmental assessment and permitting processes have led to postponement of the telescope removal. On 24 January 2019, Robert McLaren, the interim Director of the University of Hawaii Institute of Astronomy, gave an update to state lawmakers and suggested the permitting will be accomplished in 2019 with dismantling and removal taking a year or less.
Caltech Submillimeter Observatory | Decommissioning
MSE's 11.25 meter aperture diameter necessitates replacing Canada-France-Hawai‘i Telescope's enclosure, designed for a 3.6 meter aperture telescope, with one that provides a suitable enclosure aperture while still being of a mass that the current building can support. A calotte style enclosure has been chosen as one that meets performance requirements, including good control of ventilation, while staying within the allowed mass and fiscal budgets. The instrumentation package at the circular optical field of view is dominated by a hexagonal array of more than 4300 robotic fibre positioners, each of which samples the light at the focal surface with the tip of an optical fibre.
Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer | Telescope and enclosure
Kuiper would abandon his site (the very first telescope on Mauna Kea) over the competition and begin work in Arizona on a different NASA project. After considerable testing by Jefferies' team, the best locations were determined to be near the summit at the top of the cinder cones. Testing also determined Mauna Kea to be superb for nighttime viewing due to many factors, including the thin air, constant trade winds and being surrounded by sea. Jefferies would build a 2.24 meter telescope with the State of Hawaiʻi agreeing to build a reliable, all weather roadway to the summit. Building began in 1967 and first light was seen in 1970.
Mauna Kea Observatories | Origin and background
The original astronomical observatory is located on the island Tenerife in the Canary Islands on the volcano called Teide. The site is at the elevation and situated away from city light pollution. This (Canary Islands) site includes 2 domes, each with 2 telescopes. Each dome has a high-magnification telescope and a wide-field telescope. One dome is optimized for planetary views (e.g., more magnification and a different CCD), and the other is optimized for deep sky objects (e.g., less magnification, more light sensitive CCD). Each dome offers 2 telescopic views: one high magnification (narrow field) view through a Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope; and a wide view through either a telephoto lens or an APO refractor.
Slooh | Participating observatories
The Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) is an atmospheric baseline station on Mauna Loa, on the island of Hawaii, located in the U.S. state of Hawaii.
Mauna Loa Observatory | Introduction
Last is a feature on Earth's Moon, a crater in the Hadley–Apennine region. Astronauts David Scott and James Irwin landed the Lunar Module "Falcon" on the northern edge of it in 1971, on the Apollo 15 mission. Last crater is located approximately 2 km east of Hadley Rille and approximately 1 km northwest of Index, the intended landing point. The name of the crater was formally adopted by the IAU in 1973.
Last (crater) | Introduction
In the early part of the 20th century, Canada was the home of the second and third largest astronomical telescopes in the world: the 1.88 m (74 inch) reflector at the David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill, Ontario and the 1.82 m (72 inch) Plaskett telescope at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Saanich, British Columbia. However, by the early 1960s these telescopes had dropped to 13th and 17th largest in the world. In order to regain prominence in the field of astronomy, in 1963 the Director of the DAO Dr. R. M. Petrie proposed the construction of a national observatory, with a 3.81 m (150 inch) telescope as the primary instrument.
Mount Kobau National Observatory | Background
After considerable testing by Jefferies' team, the best locations were determined to be near the summit at the top of the cinder cones. Testing also determined Mauna Kea to be superb for nighttime viewing due to many factors including the thin air, constant trade winds and being surrounded by sea. Jefferies would build a 2.24 meter telescope with the State of Hawaii agreeing to build a reliable, all weather roadway to the summit. Building began in 1967 and first light seen in 1970.
Thirty Meter Telescope protests | Development of Mauna Kea observatories
Hale and Ritchey had a falling out in 1919, and Ritchey eventually went to Paris where he promoted the construction of very large telescopes. He returned to America in 1930 and obtained a contract to build a Ritchey-Chrétien telescope for the U.S. Naval Observatory. This last telescope produced by Ritchey remains in operation at the U.S. Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station in Flagstaff, Arizona. In 1924, he received the Prix Jules Janssen, the highest award of the Société astronomique de France, the French astronomical society. Craters on Mars and the Moon were named in his honor.
George Willis Ritchey | Introduction
Since the creation of an access road in 1964, thirteen telescopes funded by eleven countries have been constructed at the summit. The Mauna Kea Observatories are used for scientific research across the electromagnetic spectrum and comprise the largest such facility in the world. Their construction on a landscape considered sacred by Native Hawaiians continues to be a topic of debate to this day.
Mauna Kea | Introduction
A small museum dedicated to Onizuka, scheduled to close in March 2016, is located at the Kona International Airport. The ʻImiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo on the University of Hawaii at Hilo campus includes a larger museum and planetarium that is more easily accessible to visitors.
Onizuka Center for International Astronomy | Related sites
The Mount Kobau National Observatory (originally the Queen Elizabeth II Observatory) was a proposed astronomical observatory in southern British Columbia, Canada.
Mount Kobau National Observatory | Introduction
Nevertheless, it was recovered on 13 August 2001 on CCD images taken with the University of Hawaii 2.2 m reflector at Mauna Kea.
39P/Oterma | Discovery
The garden has a great deal of mud left upon it ...Both English and American astronomical groups visited New Zealand to observe the 1874 transit of Venus, and Carkeek's observatory was mentioned as one facility that might be used, but he did not in the end participate. The partly ruined building still remains, and is New Zealand's oldest surviving observatory. After his death in 1878 his chattels and livestock were auctioned on 17 December of that year, but the auction notice did not mention telescopes or astronomy books. What happened to his "numerous valuable notes and observations", promised to the "Wairarapa Standard" just weeks before he died, is unknown.
Stephen Carkeek | Observatory
The Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory is a public astronomical observatory located on the campus of the University of Western Ontario, in London, Ontario, Canada.
Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory | Introduction
The Faulkes Telescope North is a clone of the Liverpool Telescope, and is located at Haleakala Observatory in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It is a f/10 Ritchey-Chrétien telescope. The telescope is owned and operated by LCOGT. This telescope and its sister telescope Faulkes Telescope South are used by research and education groups around the globe. The Faulkes Telescope Project is one such group which provides observing time (awarded by LCOGT) for educational projects for UK schools and amateur astronomers. In 2013, it imaged the defunct Herschel Space Observatory.
Faulkes Telescope North | Introduction
The online petition titled "A Call to Divest Canada's Research Funding for the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea" was posted to Change.org on July 20, 2019.
Kirsty Duncan | Controversies
Further observations were made using the Las Cumbres Observatory 1m at CTIO 24.7 hours after discovery which recovered ASASSN1 at a g-band magnitude of 15.2. ASASSN1 was then found 0.77 degrees away from ASASSN1's original location 35.7 hours after discovery. ASAS-SN's Cassius unit re-observed this field 3 days after discovery and found that ASASSN1 significantly brightened to V band 11.9 magnitude. In addition to brightening, the coma around ASASSN1 also increased significantly to 2.5 arcmin. Finally, the northern ASAS-SN unit, a quadruple 14-cm "Brutus" telescope on Haleakala Hawaii, observed ASASSN1 6 days after discovery and found that ASASSN1 appears to have faded to V~12.2.
ASASSN1 | Discovery
For observation purposes, the optimal location for an optical telescope is undoubtedly in outer space. There the telescope can make observations without being affected by the atmosphere. However, at present it remains costly to lift telescopes into orbit. Thus the next best locations are certain mountain peaks that have a high number of cloudless days and generally possess good atmospheric conditions (with good seeing conditions). The peaks of the islands of Mauna Kea, Hawaii and La Palma possess these properties, as to a lesser extent do inland sites such as Llano de Chajnantor, Paranal, Cerro Tololo and La Silla in Chile.
Observational astronomy | Important factors
Located in the Atlas Mountains, 2750 meters above sea level, the TRAPPIST-North telescope is a twin telescope of TRAPPIST-South located at the La Silla Observatory in Chile, both operated from Liège, Belgium, by the Space Center of the University of Liège.
Oukaïmeden Observatory | Telescope
Opposition to the Mauna Kea Observatories has existed since the first telescope was built in the late 1960s. Originally part of research begun by Gerard Kuiper of the University of Arizona, the site has expanded into the world's largest observatory for infrared and submillimeter telescopes. Opposition to the telescope from residents in the city of Hilo, Hawaii were concerned about the visual appearance of the mountain and Native Hawaiians voiced concerns over the site being sacred to the Hawaiian religion as the home of several deities. Environmental groups and activists have been expressing concern over endangered species habitat. The Outrigger Telescopes Project, intended to build from four to six comparatively small telescopes for interferometry, was to surround the Keck telescopes.
Opposition to the Mauna Kea Observatories | Introduction
Headquarters for the HIA moved from Ottawa to Victoria in 1995. In the 21st century, the Institute designed instruments for its international telescope programme, including the Gemini multi-object spectrograph, the JCMT auto-correlation spectrometer and imaging system and the CFHT adaptive optics bonnette. Of note is the initiation of the CFHT Legacy Survey in 2003. Using the telescope's wide field Megacam the survey consists of three studies, "Very Wide", "Wide", and "Deep", and investigates a number of phenomena including the nature of dark matter and dark energy. The University of Calgary is participating in the development of the software to be used for data acquisition and image production at the Atacama Large Millimeter Array Telescope under construction in the Atacama Desert in Chile.
Natural scientific research in Canada | Astronomy
As of April 2015, two separate appeals were still pending.
Opposition to the Mauna Kea Observatories | Thirty Meter Telescope proposal
CFHT, in collaboration with Coelum Astronomia, maintains a public-outreach website called "Hawaiian Starlight" which offers extremely high-quality versions of CFHT images in various formats including a yearly calendar.
Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope | Outreach
CFBDSIR 1458+10 A was discovered in 2010 by Delorme et al. from the Canada-France Brown Dwarf Survey using the facilities MegaCam and mounted on the 3.6 m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, located on Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii. Image in "z`" band was taken on 2004 July 15 with MegaCam, and image in "J" band was taken on 2007 April 1 with WIRCam. In 2009 they made follow-up photometry, using the SOFI near infrared camera at the ESO 3.5 m New Technology Telescope (NTT) at the La Silla Observatory, Chile. In 2010 Delorme et al. published a paper in "Astronomy and Astrophysics" where they reported the identification of 55 T-dwarfs candidates, six of which were photometrically confirmed as T-dwarfs, including 3 ultracool brown dwarfs (later than T7 dwarfs and possible Y dwarfs), including CFBDSIR 1458+10.
CFBDSIR 1458+10 | Discovery
The Carkeek Observatory is the earliest surviving astronomical observatory in New Zealand. It was built around 1867 by retired customs officer and amateur astronomer Stephen Carkeek on his farm south of Featherston in the Wairarapa. The timber building was in two parts: an octagonal room with a rotating canvas dome, and a rectangular annex. Carkeek died in 1878 and the disused observatory became a farm equipment shed. As late as the 1980s it was still largely intact, but is now a partial ruin, although the annex and parts of the rotation mechanism can still be seen in place. It was added as a Category I historic place in the New Zealand Heritage List on 26 June 2020.
Carkeek Observatory | Introduction
Keck Observatory in Hawaii.
Kepler-10b | Introduction
Sky-Hi's conjugate point in the Northern Hemisphere is located in the Réserve faunique des Laurentides, in Canada. The nunataks were mapped in detail by United States Geological Survey (USGS) from ground surveys and U.S. Navy aerial photographs taken 1965-67 and U.S. Landsat imagery taken 1973–74.
Sky-Hi Nunataks | Introduction
The Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE) is a collaborative project by a new and enlarged partnership to revitalize the Canada-France-Hawai‘i Telescope (CFHT) observatory through replacing the existing 1970-vintage optical telescope with a modern segmented-mirror telescope and dedicated science instrumentation, while substantially re-using the existing Maunakea summit building and facility. At the highest level the objectives of MSE are to enhance scientific research and education for the partner communities. MSE will use an 11.25 meter aperture telescope and dedicated multiobject fibre spectroscopy instrumentation to perform survey science observations, collecting spectra from more than 4,000 astronomical targets simultaneously. The project completed a conceptual design in early 2018.
Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer | Introduction
The location of Mauna Loa has made it an important location for atmospheric monitoring by the Global Atmosphere Watch and other scientific observations. The Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (MLSO), located at on the northern slope of the mountain, has long been prominent in observations of the Sun. The NOAA Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) is located close by. From its location well above local human-generated influences, the MLO monitors the global atmosphere, including the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Measurements are adjusted to account for local outgassing of CO from the volcano. The Yuan-Tseh Lee Array for Microwave Background Anisotropy (AMiBA) sits at an elevation of .
Mauna Loa | Observatories
In 1911 and 1912, small cabins were built on the floor of the caldera next to the main active vent of Halemaʻumaʻu, but these were hard to maintain. MIT added $25,000 in support in 1912 from the estate of Edward and Caroline Whitney to build a more permanent facility. The first instruments were housed in a cellar next to the Volcano House called the Whitney Laboratory of Seismology. Inmates from a nearby prison camp had excavated through of volcanic ash. Massive reinforced concrete walls supported a small building built on top of the structure. Professor Fusakichi Omori of Japan, now best known for his study of aftershocks, designed the original seismometers.
Hawaiian Volcano Observatory | History
Follow-up adaptive optics observations with the Keck telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii were used to precisely determine the location of the new supernova. The first optical spectrum was obtained using the ARC telescope in New Mexico, which showed the supernova to be of Type Ia. Pre-discovery recovery images were found that showed the supernova as early as 15 January, six days before discovery. Early indications were that the supernova had been discovered approximately 14 days before maximum light, so it would get brighter over the following fortnight. It was predicted to be bright enough to be visible with binoculars throughout the Northern Hemisphere.
SN 2014J | Observations
With an elevation of 3600 m above sea level, it is the home to the Iranian National Observatory and its 3.4m INO340 telescope. Major optical observatories include Mauna Kea Observatory and Kitt Peak National Observatory in the US, Roque de los Muchachos Observatory and Calar Alto Observatory in Spain, and Paranal Observatory in Chile. Specific research study performed in 2009 shows that the best possible location for ground-based observatory on Earth is Ridge A — a place in the central part of Eastern Antarctica. This location provides the least atmospheric disturbances and best visibility.
Observatory | Ground-based observatories
The text on the original plaque read: "First Astronomical Observatory in Canada"
William Brydone Jack Observatory | Later history
The full ATLAS concept consists of eight 50-centimeter diameter f/2 Wright-Schmidt telescopes, spread over the globe for full-night-sky and 24h/24h coverage, and each fitted with a 110 Megapixel CCD array camera. The current system consists of two such telescopes operating 160 km apart on Haleakala and Mauna Loa in the Hawaiian Islands, ATLAS1 and ATLAS2. A major feature of these telescopes is their large 7.4° field of view — about 15 times the diameter of the full moon — of which their 10 500 × 10 500 CCD camera images the central 5.4° × 5.4°. This system can image the whole night sky visible from Hawaii with about 1000 separate telescope pointings.
Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System | Design and operation
The MLO levels can be compared with other sites in the global monitoring network. MLO has activities at five locations on the Big Island. The primary observing site is located at the level on Mauna Loa's north slope () about north of the summit Mokuaweoweo. The Mauna Loa Solar Observatory shares this site. The administration and some data processing are done in the Hilo, Hawaii office. Kulani Mauka is a rain collection site. Cape Kumukahi is a flask sample site located on the easternmost point of Hawaii. At the Hilo airport, weekly balloon-borne instruments are prepared and launched to measure ozone from the surface to usually over 30 km.
Mauna Loa Observatory | The observatory
The center is operated by the Institute for Astronomy of the University of Hawaii. The harsh conditions of the observatories require ongoing maintenance, with technicians and construction workers being common residents. Originally any astronomer wishing to use the observatory needed to stay at these facilities to physically be present during the nights they were assigned to use the telescopes. Although first-time users of the observatories are still encouraged to actually travel to the summit to familiarize themselves with the instruments, most observations can now be done over the Internet. Often the work is done in teams, with a staff of two at the summit, and others connected by teleconference at Hale Pōhaku, the University of Hawaii at Hilo, University of Hawaii at Manoa, or the researcher's office.
Onizuka Center for International Astronomy | History
On December 4, 1984 it became the first telescope to make optical closure phase measurements on an astronomical source using an aperture mask. UH88 is a Cassegrain reflector tube telescope with an f/10 focal ratio, supported by a large open fork equatorial mount. It was the last telescope on Mauna Kea to use a tube design rather than an open truss, and is the largest in the complex to use an open fork mount, with neighboring telescopes in the 3-meter class using English fork designs.
UH88 | Introduction
Maipú Radio Observatory (Spanish: "Radio Observatorio de Maipú" - ROM, or "Observatorio Radioastronomico de Maipú") was a remote site of OAN located in the commune of Maipú southwest of Santiago. One long-wavelength telescope was built by OAN and the University of Florida, and another by OAN and the Carnegie Institution. Observing began at the site in 1959, and it was closed in 2000.
National Astronomical Observatory (Chile) | Maipú Radio Observatory
Kaʻau Crater is an extinct volcanic crater located in the U.S. state of Hawaii near Palolo Valley.
Kaʻau Crater | Introduction
The reserve is accessed from the Saddle Road (Hawaii Route 200), about northwest of Hilo. At , the Mauna Kea access road leads to the north at about elevation. The road was unofficially named for John A. Burns who was Governor of Hawaii when it was built in 1964. The land is part of the Natural Area Reserves System administered by the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources. The reserve lies above the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy, to the west of the road starting at an elevation of about at . It extends to just below the summit area of Mauna Kea Observatory, at about elevation at .
Mauna Kea Ice Age Reserve | Location
In 2015 MKH sent a letter to the Hawaii attorney general relating to access of the mountain being limited to observatory employees and their crews. The group was one of several parties to win revocation of the Thirty Meter Telescope permit in 2015. MKAH made national headlines in 2015 for their lawsuit relating to their protest of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea, on the Island of Hawaii. The Canadian group Idle No More expressed support for "Mauna Kea Anaina Hou". Another group that has supported MKAH's efforts is the Sierra Club of Hawaii.
Mauna Kea Anaina Hou | TMT opposition
The last remnants of this superplume event are the South Pacific superswell located underneath Tahiti.
Superswell | Superplume
The summit of Mauna Kea is so high that tourists are advised to stop at the visitor station for at least 30 minutes to acclimate to atmospheric conditions before continuing to the summit, and scientists often stay at Hale Pōhaku for eight hours or more before spending a full night at observatories on the summit, with some telescopes requiring observers to spend one full night at Hale Pōhaku before working at the summit.
Mauna Kea Observatories | Location
WISEP J180026.60+013453.1 was discovered in 2011 by Gizis et al. from data, collected by Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) Earth-orbiting satellite — NASA infrared-wavelength ) space telescope, which mission lasted from December 2009 to February 2011. There are also precovery identifications of this object in Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) data (observed on 2000 September 23) and in the 3rd release of the database (close in time to the 2MASS observation). On 2011 June 22 Gizis et al. had conducted near-infrared spectroscopy with SpeX spectrograph, mounted on the 3 m Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), located at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii.
WISE 1800+0134 | Discovery