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Hawaii Telescope Provides a Window on the Universe

Posted on: Sunday, 1 January 2006, 12:00 CST

By Karin Stanton For The Associated Press

MAUNA KEA SUMMIT, Hawaii -- You won't get to see the stars at night visiting the Subaru Telescope, perched atop the summit of the world's highest island mountain, Mauna Kea.

But a daytime tour of this premier research facility will give you a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at 21st century astronomy as it's studied from this breathtakingly scenic vantage point at 13,796 feet.

The volcano's height and remote location make it among the finest peaks for land-based astronomy, and the skies are clear enough for serious stargazing 330 or more nights each year.

Subaru -- the Japanese word for the constellation Pleiades, which also roughly translates to "gathering" -- offers 30-minute tours of the facility for folks willing to give up a day of Hawaii's famed sun and surf.

The trip from either of the Big Island population centers -- Hilo to the east and Kona to the west -- takes about 3 1/2 hours.

That includes a stop at the 9,000-foot level, at the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy Visitor Information Center -- highly recommended to acclimate to the altitude, which can be dangerous to children, pregnant women and people with respiratory or cardiac problems.

Mauna Kea, or "white mountain," is a dormant volcano believed to have last erupted some 4,500 years ago. It is called the white mountain because its slopes often are dusted with snow during winter.

Stepping out of a four-wheel drive vehicle, we were jarred by a stiff, dry, cold wind that whipped clouds below.

Farmland could be seen through the clouds, green pastures in sharp contrast to the stark red cinder gravel beneath our feet and the brilliantly clear light blue skies all around.

The newest telescope within the Mauna Kea Science Reserve, the Subaru boasts the largest single-piece mirror in the world, which can see deeper into space and photograph a wider area of space than was conceivable even one generation ago.

The 27-foot diameter mirror arrived by ship on the Big Island in November 1998 and was big news when it was trucked up the mountain side. Interest has not waned in the seven years since the $400 million project was completed.

Operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and the University of Hawaii, the optical-infrared telescope draws stacks of research applications from students and scientists around the world.

One in six or seven applicants is lucky enough to be granted even one night's viewing.

The public must settle for the 30-minute daytime tour.

One recent tour, led by guide Andrew Hasagawa, included an expert who was as awed as I was as we stood in the 140-foot tall cylindrical enclosure, watching as the massive structure began a whisper-quiet tilt from vertical to almost horizontal.

"Gigantic, behemoth," said Dr. James Dire, physics section chief at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.

Dire, who said he has visited almost every major telescope in the United States, quizzed Hasagawa about the intricacies of the operation that can analyze visible and infrared light, as well as provide images and spectroscopic measurements for objects, stars and galaxies beyond our own.

Dire grinned in appreciation as the mysteries of each piece of equipment were explained.

"To think we use a 20-inch telescope . . . " he mused.

To visitors who are not experts in the field, the Subaru looks like something out of "Star Wars," with its scaffolding skeleton painted an unlikely powder blue and its pointy end turned skyward. After listening to Hasagawa's knowledgeable answers to Dire's technical questions, the best I could figure is the telescope is like the world's biggest digital camera.

And it takes some of the most awe-inspiring photographs this side of, well, the universe.

In early May, Subaru announced the discovery of 12 new asteroid- like moons circling Saturn. Later, I flipped through the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan pamphlet to find the telescope has snapped pictures of just about every corner of our solar system and the Milky Way, and in "gazing ever further outward, can now see almost all the way back to the beginning of time itself."

Hasagawa said that "when they began this project, a lot of the technology had to be developed. It just hadn't been done before."

For example, the 500-ton structure swivels on a thin film of oil, which allows it to follow the stars smoothly.

Robots were built to move or attach various instruments, such as ancillary mirrors or cameras. Fistfuls of thick cables hang like neck ties from a metal plate suspended from the ceiling, solving the problem of cable tangles.

Much of the time, however, the 110-member staff is focused on maintaining and caring for the pieces of specialized equipment and the 23-ton ultra-low thermal expansion mirror.

Only 8 inches thick, it is supported on a bed of 261 computer- controlled fingers and polished to near perfection.

"If the mirror was as big as this island (roughly the size of Connecticut), the biggest imperfection would be the depth of a single sheet of paper," Hasagawa said.

The building's roof and one wall slide open like a garage door, letting in a biting wind that is channeled around delicate machinery by gill-like louvers that panel the interior.

The entire enclosure is kept as close to the outside night temperature as possible.

Because the heat from even one human being causes enough air turbulence to impact the sensitive equipment, monitoring and viewing is done from an adjacent control room. It is filled every night with specialists, students and scientists hovering over computer screens just waiting to see something out there for the first time.

"See," quipped Hasagawa as he wrapped up the tour, "it's really kind of like a regular office with people clicking away on computers."

Source: Deseret News (Salt Lake City)

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