When starlight from billions of years ago zips across the universe and finally comes into focus on Earth, astronomers want their telescopes to be in the best locations possible to see what’s out there.
Despite years of legal battles and months of protests by Native Hawaiian opponents, the international coalition that wants to build the world’s largest telescope in Hawaii insists that the islands’ highest peak — Mauna Kea — is the best place for their $1.4 billion instruments.
But just barely.
Thirty Meter Telescope officials acknowledge that their backup site atop a peak on the Spanish Canary island of La Palma is a comparable observatory location and that it wouldn’t cost more money or take extra time to build it there.
There’s also no significant opposition to putting the telescope on La Palma like there is in Hawaii, where some Native Hawaiians consider the mountain sacred and have blocked trucks from hauling construction equipment to Mauna Kea’s summit for more than a month.
But Hawaii has advantages that scientists say make it slightly better: higher altitude, cooler temperatures, and rare star-gazing moments that will allow the cutting-edge telescope to reach its full potential.
“Every once in a while at Mauna Kea, you get one of those magic nights,” said the University of California, Santa Cruz astronomy and astrophysics professor Michael Bolte, a Thirty Meter Telescope board member. “When the air is super stable above the site, you get images that you simply couldn’t get anyplace else.”
Bolte, who has used existing Mauna Kea telescopes, said those “magic” Hawaii nights could hold discoveries that might be missed in La Palma.
“Let’s suppose one of your big science cases is to look for life on planets that are orbiting other stars,” he said. “The star is so much brighter than the planet you’re trying to observe, it’s really hard to do.”
This story is from the August 30, 2019 edition of AppleMagazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the August 30, 2019 edition of AppleMagazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
TIKTOK SUES US TO BLOCK LAW THAT COULD BAN THE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM
TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance are suing the U.S. over a law that would ban the popular video-sharing app unless it's sold to another company, arguing that it vaguely paints it as a threat to national security to get around the First Amendment.
DISNEY'S STREAMING BUSINESS TURNS A PROFIT IN FIRST FINANCIAL REPORT SINCE CHALLENGE TO IGER
India, Disney+Hotstar, it expects its combined streaming businesses to be profitable in the fourth quarter and to be a meaningful future growth driver for the company, with further improvements in profitability in fiscal 2025.
INSTACART PARTNERS WITH UBER EATS TO OFFER RESTAURANT DELIVERIES
Grocery delivery company Instacart is partnering with Uber Eats to offer a new perk to its customers: restaurant delivery.
RYAN GOSLING AND EMILY BLUNT ARE GREAT FUN IN 'THE FALL GUY
One of the worst movie sins is when a comedy fails to at least match the natural charisma of its stars. Not all actors are capable of being effortlessly witty without a tightly crafted script and some excellent direction and editing.
FRENCH CYBERWARRIORS READY TO TEST THEIR DEFENSE AGAINST HACKERS AND MALWARE DURING THE OLYMPICS
Just like the Olympic athletes, the cyberwarriors that will be crucial for the success of the Paris Games are deep into training for the big event.
NINTENDO TO ANNOUNCE SWITCH SUCCESSOR IN THIS FISCAL YEAR AS PROFITS RISE
Japanese video-game maker Nintendo said this week that it will make an announcement about a successor to its Switch home console sometime before March 2025.
US SEEKS INFORMATION FROM TESLA ON HOW IT DEVELOPED AND VERIFIED WHETHER AUTOPILOT RECALL WORKED
Federal highway safety investigators want Tesla to tell them how and why it developed the fix in a recall of more than 2 million vehicles equipped with the company’s Autopilot partially automated driving system.
SLOW TO EXPAND, INTERNET CASINO GAMBLING IS THE FUTURE OF US BETTING, INDUSTRY EXECS SAY
Internet casino gambling is legal in only a handful of states, but the industry is convinced it is the future of betting, even as some worry about cannibalizing physical casinos.
US LOOSENS SOME ELECTRIC VEHICLE BATTERY RULES, POTENTIALLY MAKING MORE EVS ELIGIBLE FOR TAX CREDITS
The U.S.government loosened some rules governing electric vehicle tax credits, potentially making more EVs eligible for credits of up to $7,500 but leading critics to accuse the Biden administration of helping China.
FTX WILL RETURN MONEY TO MOST CUSTOMERS LESS THAN 2 YEARS AFTER CATASTROPHIC CRYPTO COLLAPSE
FTX says that nearly all of its customers will receive the money back that they are owed, two years after the cryptocurrency exchange imploded, and some will get more than that.