Date: November 6, 2010
Title: The Mauna Kea Observatories
Podcaster: Thomas Hofstätter
Organization: http://hidden-space.at.tf (The Hidden Space Project)
Description: In this podcast, Leon Dombroski and I are going to describe the Mauna Kea Observatories. The world’s most giant and powerful observatories are located in this area which is characterized by extreme conditions such as temperature, humidity and air pressure. The getaway from light pollution has caused scientists to put up their telescopes more than 4000m above sea level. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions to the podcast, feel free to write me an email to hidden-space (at) gmx (dot) at or visit me at my website at www.hidden-space.at.tf!
Bio: Born in 1993 near Vienna, Austria, Europe. Upper High School with focus on Computer Science.Interested in extreme small and extreme big, devious and uninvestigated things. My main aim is to bring astronomy to public and to establish secular interest in astronomy, physics and mathematics. Host of :: The Hidden Space Project :: at http://hidden-space.at.tf.
Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by Wayne Robertson and is dedicated to Caroline, our 365 days of sunshine. Love Mom and Dad.
Transcript:
Hello and welcome to this episode of 365 Days of Astronomy. My name is Thomas Hofstätter and I am the hoster of :: The Hidden Space Project :: at www.hidden-space.at.tf.
[Leon:] And I’m Leon Dombroski from the state of Connecticut in the United States.
In this episode, we are going to talk about the Mauna Kea Observatories on Hawaii. Unfortunately, we cannot show you images on this podcast although there are some very nice of the mountain and the telescopes. But you can find some images in the article about this topic at www.hidden-space.at.tf/articles.php. There you can find an article named equally to this podcast as well as some other ones partly discussed in past podcasts.
[Leon:] Mauna Kea – located on the Big Island of Hawaii in the U.S. is one of the best places in the world where professional astronomers from all over the world have their observatories. The observatories are located at about 4200m above sea level where the atmosphere is thinner and therefore the image quality – the so-called “seeing” – is better than at a lower area. Moreover, there is a very low amount of light pollution because there are no people, houses, well-lit roads or factories in the local area.
These are the reasons why a great number of the world’s most giant telescopes are placed on this mountain. Examples are the Keck-twins (each 10m diameter), the Subaru Telescope (8.3m), the Gemini North Observatory (8.1m) and the Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope (3.58m). But there are not only optical telescopes but there are also eight antennas (each 6m) of the Small Millimeter Array and the Caltech Submillimeter Array (10.4m).
[Leon:] During daylight time, when astronomy is not possible at most telescopes, it’s also possible for amateur- or non-astronomers to visit Mauna Kea for theirselves. Doing so, visitors have to drive along the serpentine “Saddle Road” and then turn right on the “Mauna Kea Access Road”. The reason why the street is so curvy is caused by the fact that is has been built in 1942 during World War II. To make it harder for enemies to capture the island, they tried to make it as difficult as possible.
On a height of 2800m above sea level there is a Visitor Information Station (VIS) where you can stay for about 30min to acclimate and to observe the sky at night. (It’s not allowed to stay at the mountain for longer than 30min after sunset due to personal risk and the annoyance of the scientific observations.) Thereafter you have to drive another 13km and 1400m differences in height. Most parts of the road are not tarred due to the high costs. That’s also the reason why there is a speed limit of 5mph (8km/h) to control the dust in the air.
[Leon:] The Observatory area itself is about 2km^2 wide and is an “Astronomy Precinct”. It was established in 1967 and is characterized by low temperatures, low humidity, 40% lower air pressure than on sea level, good air quality and low light pollution. Moreover, most weather is located beneath the telescopes. That means that there probably aren’t any clouds above the area. Moreover, Mauna Kea nearly lies on the equator what means that you can observe both the sky of the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere.
If visiting Mauna Kea, you should consider the following facts: Due to the extreme contions at over 4000m above sea level, children, pregnant woman, sick and older people should not visit Mauna Kea. Moreover, you shouldn’t have dived about 24h before your journey! Moreover, according to what people say who were on the mountain, you should have warm clothes with you even if there are 30∞C at sea level.
That’s it for today. I hope, you enjoyed it. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, write me an email to hidden-space (at) gmx (dot) at or visit me at my website at www.hidden-space.at.tf and observe basic questions of astronomy’s past and future as well as hidden and devious facts.
Thanks for listening and clear-skies!
[Leon:] Good bye for now!
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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