Astronomy Capital of the World?!

If you Google "Astronomy Capital of the World", you will learn that the Tucson area holds that distinction (also known as "Optics Valley" because of telescopes and startup optics-related companies here.  Not that you can believe everything you read on the Internet!  Not only is it home to Kitt Peak National Observatory, but there are also major observatories on Mount Graham, Mount Hopkins and Mount Lemmon, all within 60 air miles of Tucson.

But on Hawaii's "Big Island", stands Mauna Kea, certainly the largest concentration of big telescopes on one peak!  The Keck Observatory, the center two domes in the above image, when working together, would be considered the largest telescope in the world.  Fortunately, I have a friend who works there, Andrew Cooper, who gladly volunteered a tour when we visited a week and a half ago.  A tour is not without difficulty - at 14,000 feet elevation, there is only about half the oxygen available at sea level.  In addition, a high-clearance or 4-wheel drive vehicle is required to access the peak - rental cars are expressly prohibited from going there in the rental agreements!  Fortunately, the road to the 9,000+ foot level visitor center is very good, though very steep, and Andrew drove us up in his personal vehicle from there.

The Observatory is located near the center of the Big Island, on the tallest of the five shield volcanoes that dominate the Island.  It is accessed from the "Saddle Road" which can be seen running between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa in the shortcut between the east and west sides of the Island.  Recent improvements make the trip to Hilo from the west arid side with the many resorts very pleasant.  The turnoff from the Saddle Road, while not unmarked, belie the significance of the activities atop the mountain. 

Of course, we had to stop for a few pictures!  While Mauna Kea is considered dormant, last erupting 4,600 years ago, there are many nearby "fresh" lava flows from adjacent Mauna Loa, which last erupted for a month in 1984 (as opposed to Kiluea, which has been continuously erupting for 30 years).  The flows shown here next to the turnoff are from Mauna Loa flows from 1935.  Even with the "new" lava surface, plant life can exist - it is part of the rehabbing of the surface, breaking up the rock to form new soil.  The smoothed-surface lava here is known as pahoehoe, as opposed to a'a lava which is very rough in texture, of which we also saw plenty.

Heading up the hill, the road ascended very quickly - few switchbacks in these lower sections - the road almost goes directly up the slope!  Just about when you think it can't get any steeper and you must be coming to the top, you crest a hill and see the peak still well ahead and fortunately, a flattish area with a visitor center, as well as support buildings for the various observatories - dormitories, dining halls and the like.  Staff and astronomers staying on the mountain can't sleep at 14,000 feet elevation, but rather at the lower elevation of Hale Pohaku.  Public visitors, staff and astronomers alike that ascend the mountain are supposed to spend at least 30 minutes to an hour to help their bodies acclimate to the change in elevation.  We don't think much of driving up Kitt Peak, Mount Lemmon or even the nearly 11,000 vertical feet of Mount Graham, but most all of those enjoy a base elevation of about 3,000 feet.  On Hawaii, you can drive from sea level to the 14,000 feet atop Mauna Kea in just over an hour, something your body would likely complain about!  The visitor center, by the way, shown at left here, is very nice - there is a very small seating area where a video is always playing describing various aspects of the observatories or mountaintop, static displays and exhibits, and also a very nice little store with great souvenirs.  They do a tremendous about with the limited space.  In addition to all that, they have free telescope viewing every night!  As you can imagine, they enjoy remarkable conditions from the small plaza, not only with the center's telescopes, but those sizable ones that amateurs bring up and volunteer.  Many tour companies take advantage of these offerings, and I did too on my first trip there 20 years ago.

Andrew arrived promptly shortly after we arrived at noon, and he talked up the place as we acclimated before we headed up for our 1pm tour.  His truck normally seats 4 plus the drive, but we had 5, so was a bit like a sardine can, but only for the 15 minute drive up the last leg of the trip.  It was a beautiful day - a perfect blue sky, made darker by the high altitude.  We sat in the staff area a bit while he checked in with the weekend staff, and found out what the work schedule was and where we could and couldn't go.  I was impressed with the company-supplied snack table, and I admit I took advantage of the dried mango - tasty stuff!

He led us through the room full of electronics and computers that he was intimately familiar with, since he works with those details every day.  It was all sort of a blur to me, but an impressive amount of wiring and blinking lights!  The next room over was the control room, where the telescope and instrumentation are controlled for the night's observing.  Giving everyone a chance to sit in the operators chair, it looks at left like Shannon thinks she broke something!  Among the displays were of the telescope position, weather conditions,  and telescope and mirror temperatures inside the dome, shown on the right.

Finally we made it out into the telescope enclosure.  The building looks small compared to the telescope - not a lot of space in the dome, including getting a wide-angle view of the scope.  I took some panorama shots of the scope, but my software has difficulty putting them together without bending the tubes of the telescope truss!  I'm still working on them...  At left Andrew shows us the Multi-Object Spectrometer For Infra-Red Exploration (MOSFIRE - I want the job that comes up with these acronyms!), a Cassegrain instrument that was not in use.  It is stored on the rails here near the edge of the dome, and when it is needed, the telescope points to the horizon away from the instrument, and it slides forward on the rails to mount to the rear of the telescope.  A cool way to do it!  At right is a wide view of the telescope.  The empty rails in the foreground likely belong to the instrument that is currently installed.

The telescope is quite different in basic design than the scopes that the University of Arizona help build.  This telescope, pioneered by Jerry Nelson back in the 80s, uses hexagonal segments that fit together to form the curved surface collecting area.  At the Mirror Lab we use a single mirror substrate of large diameter to collect the light.  Each design has their pros and cons - but they provide the best two examples of methods of making large modern telescopes.  In the image at left, you can see the very small gap (2 millimeters) between the hexagonal segments, each of which is about 1.6 meters across the hexagon.  The edges between adjoining segments have electronic detectors that monitor and control the positioning of the segments to maintain a continuous mirror surface.  The net result is a collecting surface that is about 10 meters in diameter.  While the Large Binocular Telescope, here in Arizona has two 8.4 meter mirrors, some instruments utilize both mirrors, which are equivalent to about 12 meter effective aperture.  Similarly, The Keck telescopes (there are actually 2 identical telescopes), has some instrumentation that use both scopes simultaneously, so total area would be larger than the LBT...  It is sometimes difficult to justify which is the largest telescope in the world!  Also in the left image is the tertiary mirror in the central assembly.  This third mirror in the optical train (after the segmented primary and smaller secondary mirrors) directs the light out to the Nasmyth Focus to the left in this image.  The image at right shows the azimuth hydrostatic (oil pad) bearings - the entire structure floats on a thin layer of pressurized oil.  Also seen at the center is the cable wrap up which provides electronic connections as the telescope rotates.  Also at far left is the tiny "monkey cage", a public viewing gallery where the public is welcome to check out the scope. 

While taking our tour, the staffers on duty moved the telescope and dome for us.  It was cool seeing it come alive!  I took some images for a time-lapse, we'll see if they get to be part of this post or another...

A our tour wound down, the girls warmed up in the staff area (it was pretty cold, near freezing in the dome), while Andrew showed me a couple items normally not part of even the "behind the scene tour".  Most impressive to me was the "mirror garage" - a semi-clean room (thus we weren't allowed in, but could peer through a cracked door) where the spare segments are kept.  The Keck Telescope has 36 segments, and because they occupy different parts of the mirror curve, there are actually 12 different shaped segments that can be swapped into place with short notice.  So there are 12 spares for the telescope, most in the garage, for substituting when a segment needs to come out for coating or other maintenance.  It was incredible to see them "standing at attention" like an army of little robots waiting to be put into use.  The other item I got to see was the aluminizing chamber (shown at right), about 2 meters in diameter, where they reapply a fresh aluminum coating after the old coating is removed.  The aluminum surface, exposed to weather and volcanic dust, is cleaned regularly (using a CO2 process), but eventually degrades and needs recoating every year or so.

Finally we were finished and walked out the back door and we got to "tour the mountain" as we walked around the building.  Andrew pointed out the new site where the "Thirty Meter Telescope" is currently designed to go.  Like Keck, it will have a segmented mirror, but much larger than Keck.  I took a panorama of the scopes on the east ridge, shown here at left.  from left is the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), the  Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), Gemini North Telescope, and the University of Hawaii 2.2 meter Telescope.  Interestingly, the last mirror was made by my buddy Bob Goff!

After a short drive up the hill in the above picture, we looked back towards the Keck Observatory.  As is normal, in the far distance between the domes is a view of the next Hawaiian island over, Maui, with the 10,000 foot tall mountain Haleakala, about 80 miles distant.  To the left of the Kecks is the Japanese National Telescope, also called the Subaru Telescope (Japanese for the Pleiades star cluster).  On the right is the IRTF again.  Down in the valley to the left are a number of radio telescopes.  From the small dome at left is the Caltech Submillimeter Telescope (CSO), the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), and the Submillimeter Array (SMA).  In all, there are 13 operational telescopes on Mauna Kea, about half the number of scopes at Kitt Peak, but the total area of scopes has a huge advantage for Hawaii.

Oh - and the time lapse?  Yes, I finally finished it, though I'm not completely happy with it - varying light levels (when am I going to learn to put exposure in MANUAL?!), needed to use wider lens, etc, etc...  Always easy to find fault - oh, and needs music too, but then, nearly all my time lapse clips need music!  For a REAL video of the inner workings of the Keck Observatory, check out Andrew Cooper's own spectacular version of behind-the-scene views!  He also has a blog post with some of the details.  Click the links and be amazed!  Oh, and Andrew - thanks for the Tour!

They Sure Know How To Throw A Party!

If you ever go to one of the larger hotels in Hawaii you will see that at least once or twice a week you can take part in a Luau, a Hawaiian-themed feast with entertainment.  This trip was no exception - the Marriott, where we were staying, had them on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but our mother-in-law Betty (shown at left) informed us we were to be guests of hers at the private Luau thrown by her Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) annual convention at the Hilton on Friday.  Betty has worked with the AAU for decades through the athletic department at the University of South Carolina, and Vicki and I have joined her in years past - both of us at San Diego in '96, and Vicki joined her solo for a different trip to Maui a few years later.  Betty told us last Spring that "she wasn't looking forward to ANOTHER trip to Hawaii", so we invited ourselves along to spice up her trip!  Plus Melinda and Shannon hadn't ever been there, so it was fun for all!

 

Of course, we were running a few minutes late, and arrived just as festivities were starting - Man, Ive never seen so many Hawaiian shirts and leis in my life in one spot!  And it was clear that the Hilton went all out in their staffing of these events.  At left is one of the "island girls" dressed and tattooed as a Maori woman, twirling her poi balls, at at right are two of the beefcake "natives" who ceremoniously dug out the roasted pig wrapped in banana leaves from the pit where it had cooked all day.  Now realize there were something like 350 people at this Luau, so that little porker wasn't enough to go 'round short of a fishes-and-loaves miracle, but there truly was a feast starting with a huge salad table with local specialties as well as more standard fare, and another entree table with vats of pig, mahi mahi, beef and chicken, rice, poi, veggies and a whole separate dessert table with nearly all combinations of banana, coconut, macadamia nuts and chocolate!  And with 2 included drinks/per person (Blue Hawaiians seemed the speciality), no one suffered any caloric shortages!

 

After the appropriate amount of time, where all 300+ were served pretty promptly, it was time for the official AAU program.  Its purpose was to induct 3 athletes into the AAU Legends Hall of Fame.  In this case, 3 heroes of mine from the first Olympics I remember in 1968 (Mexico City).  I well remember my watching them on TV and performing my own running and jumping and hurdling skills on our Iowa farm for days afterwards.  Present for their inductions were long jumper Bob Beamon (who still holds the Olympic long jump record after 44 years - the oldest modern day record!), Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the gold and bronze winning athletes in the 200 meter dash, best known for their raised black-gloved hand salute during the medal ceremony.  It was great seeing them and hearing them speak a little of their stories.

 

With business over, it was time for more ceremonial entertainment.  Led by a better than adequate crooner who served as master of ceremonies, narrator as well as singing some traditional songs, we had hula and other dance performances by both men, women and combinations, including numerous costume changes.  It was quite phenomenal!  The women seemed to have double-jointed hips - watching them made me dizzy!  While the hunky guys held my attention a little less than the women, the lead male did an outstanding job as "fire dancer" - shown at right here, he is also the lead fellow carrying the roast pig above!  And of course, like any stage performance, the men and women dancers roamed the audience to get "volunteers" to get up to the stage and embarrass.  A great time was had by all.

 

The Luau ended almost suddenly, and before we knew it, all the friends and associates were bidding each other farewell until the next conference.  Most were leaving the next day - Melinda and I in the late morning, our other family members later in the evening.   Our week flashed by, and it was great exploring the island with family that we see so rarely - it was fun to learn more about them while learning more about Hawaii.  I'm hoping we can travel with the family again - there is some talk of Mexico next year...

A Taste of WHACo Astronomy

We're having quite the time in Hawaii - I can think of about 3 posts a day as we fill our schedule with snorkeling, shopping and eating (and that is just today)!  Tonight we were invited to  a Halloween astronomy outreach event by Andrew Cooper, our buddy here who gave us a great tour of Keck last weekend that I'll certainly be posting about later.  Tonight he continues the tradition of Bob Goff, a mutual friend who decades ago set up a telescope to entertain trick-or-treaters who came by his house.  Bob, who passed about a decade ago, was a neighborhood superstar who was the talk of kids for miles around.  This time Andrew solicited the help of members of the West Hawaii Astronomy Club, or WHACos, to set up at a local mall who was running a program for kids tonight for Halloween. 

Of course, the first thing an amateur astronomer learns on tropical islands at sea level - you can't always plan on it being clear!  Up at their regular observing site at Mauna Kea Visitor Center, yes, they often observe from above the clouds,  but near the ocean, clouds and rain occur frequently.  The sunset started out great - the photo at left shows Andrew's workplace atop Mauna Kea - the Keck Telescopes - the rounded domes at left, one of which has the shadow of the Subaru (Japanese National Telescope) cast upon it.  The view is one often seen from the western coast of Hawaii when weather cooperates, nearly 3 miles above us and about 25 miles downrange to the east of us from our hotel.

 

But an hour later at the mall, there were a large herd of kids, a number of telescopes set up, and unfortunately, nary a hole in the sky allowing starlight to penetrate.  The photo at left shows Andrew trying to identify a random star that had popped out in the northeast.  Yes, there are lots of stray lights, but often in doing astronomy outreach, you need to set up your equipment where people are located.  There were not a lot of bright objects in the early evening sky, and the clouds made a frustrating experience.  It even sprinkled rain for a brief interval! 

 

Fortunately it cleared a little, allowing some of the kids that stayed a little later to check out the moon.  It is interesting to me how all the kids grabbed Andrew's scope.  Perhaps it is because of the short stepladder, but a number managed to "manually" slew the telescope to the zenith!  At least the sky allowed some viewing at the same time the Moon cleared the condos across the lake.  We also managed to get a peek at the ISS rising from the west disappearing into the Earth's shadow a few minutes earlier.  Perfect timing!

 

After a bite of dinner, Melinda and I took a short road trip up the Kohala Mountain Road, about 25 miles north of where we are staying.  I noticed in passing a few days ago that the view of the west coast of Hawaii was quite spectacular from the 3500 foot level of the "scenic view" located there.  So we returned tonight to take a few photos to assemble into a panorama, and my favorite section is reproduced here showing the coast from the Mauna Kea Resort at lower right to the Kona Airport Just over the rise of Hualalai at top.  Our hotel is at the Waikoloa Complex right at the center of the frame. 

 

This is an interesting place - while the island is roughly triangular about 80 miles on a side, the huge range in elevations create nearly all earthly life zones from tropical rain forest to tundra conditions, and driving for only a few miles can change conditions enormously.  It would take some getting used to living here, but between the island's history and culture, climate, astronomy and sea life, it could certainly keep one entertained for a long time!

A Hawaiian Tradition

Turn on the TV in your hotel room and it always comes on to the Hawaii tourist channel, which advertises various activities you can do on the island.  It always shows iconic clips of Hawaii, and among these is shown native islanders fishing with throw nets.  This morning, while exploring tidal pools near the hotel, I got to watch a trio of locals fishing with a net.  It was interesting to observe him stalking fish by peeking over the edges of the tidal pool to remain hidden as long as possible, then throw the net correctly so weights at the periphery spin out spreading the net to cover as large an area as possible, catching several fish at a time. 

Of the three, one evidently had experience, one's job was to carry the bucket, and  the other was a kid who was just tagging along.  The guy was pretty successful, they caught 4 good-sized Orange Spine Unicornfish pretty quickly, then the local supply dried up and of the 2 adults, the experienced one gave throwing instructions to the other.  After showing how to wrap and hold the net, the student made a couple practice throws about the time we headed back poolside for some lunch.  It was cool watching skills that had been passed down through the generations...

An Evening With Pele

Of course, one of the highlights of a trip to Hawaii is a visit to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to see a real live volcano.  The Kilauea vent has been continuously erupting for nearly 30 years, and this being my 3rd visit, I've never been disappointed.  The previous trips we've gone down to the south flank of the volcano at night and watched lava flow down the slope and enter the Pacific.  This time the real action is at the Halemaʻumaʻu crater (which the road used to go through in a previous visit!), where a vent opened in 2008 and molten lava has been observed there since.  Lucky for us, the height reached a record height just a few days ago 80 feet below the crater floor, so has been extremely active.  I was hoping to see lava directly, and regardless of height, the crater walls have been illuminated directly, so visible at night.  I wanted those night shots!

Oh, and by the way, the title above mentions Pele, the volcano goddess associated with many stories and myths of ancient Hawaii. 

Our travelling family unit, Melinda and me, Betty, Susan and Shannon left about 9am and took the "scenic route" counter-clockwise around the Big Island from our hotel.  We were always within a few miles of the coast, and made a number of stops for refreshments, fruit and nut stands, black sand beaches, that sort of thing.  We got to the Park about 2pm, in time for a cold sandwich for lunch before exploring the visitor center and observation station where we could gaze out at the belching steam and sulfur emissions coming out of the crater (imaged above).  That was pretty cool, but we were hoping for more for our night time visit.

After a dinner trip to Volcano Village, the girls allowed me to return to take pictures.  As we approached, this little populated part of the island suddenly resembled the parking lot of a home football game.  Rangers had blocked off the road and were only allowing cars in as fast as they were leaving, which I guess is a good idea with limited parking and lots of demand.  But we finally got to the overlook with the Hunter's full moon rising into the eastern sky.  It was quite spectacular!  While no lava was directly visible, it did directly illuminate the walls of Halemaʻumaʻu with a golden fiery glow.  The glow extended up into the venting steam and gas, and the moonlight also lit up the western edge of the crater.  The glow from the lava was so strong that I couldn't expose long enough to collect much starlight without blowing out the subtle glows!

 

As mentioned, the place was rocking with visitors, most shooting it with cellphones.  Image at left with Scorpius setting - Antares is just about to set behind the south slope of Mauna Loa, with planet Mars just above.  I was hoping to get some better results with a real camera, in fact I took a few hundred frames at regular intervals to turn into a time-lapse image eventually when I get home.  The trade winds were blowing mightily, and the girls were getting impatient in the cold (volcano vent is at about 4,000 feet, so it was admittedly very cool, temperature-wise).  But before closing up shop for the night and do the marathon drive back, we took a group shot with the vent in the background.  Front-to-back is Min, Susan, Betty, Shannon and me.  This is an 8 second exposure with some combination of flash and moonlight for us.  The return trip was via Hilo, where predictably it was raining on the windward side of the island.  We then returned to the hotel on the west side via the Saddle Road, which passes between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.  It was cool passing between 2 of the largest mountains in the world, when measured from the sea floor where they start. 

 

It was a marvelous night when we returned, though the trade winds were still howling.  The bright star Archenar was culminating to the south over the shield volcano Hualalai, 8300 feet above us, since we were sitting at sea level.  You can see that the palms were in constant motion during the 30 second exposure.  Interestingly, Archernar just grazes above our southern horizon from Tucson.  But here in Hawaii we are about 13 degrees further south in latitude, so the star is correspondingly higher.  Another benefit of visiting the island paradise!

Still Here...

It might not have made the news where you are, but when the Tsunami Warning hit Hawaii this evening, it got everyones attention!  We were in a local restaurant when the TVs that had been showing college football highlights, suddenly showed the notice of an earthquake off BC, Canada and an associated Tsunami for all of Hawaii.  Returning  to the hotel 30 minutes later, we found that the ground floor had been evacuated to higher floors, but we were ok on the 2nd.  We retired to our room and watched the coverage on TV - appropriately enough, it was all that was on.  Officials indicated a 5 foot surge was expected, hitting the island at 10:28 local time.  Suddenly, we were in the evac zone, and we had 20 minutes to move to the far side of the hotel on the 4th floor!  After carefully unpacking and moving in to the dressers and closets, we repacked in 5 minutes flat and made the move.  Here we are 30 minutes after the expected arrival, and the live TV reports are filling the air time admirably well for what has so far been a non-event.  Evidently 18 months ago when the Japanese tsunami hit (another 5 foot event), there was a lot of shoreline damage, so most are following evacuation orders, though the TV cameras are showing people at the beach awaiting "an event" of some sort.

Meanwhile, we had a long day and are about to collapse (more in a future post).  Meanwhile, our boat trip and snorkel day tomorrow is in jeopardy with tonight's events.  But at this point, we're safe and paying attention to something we've not been through before!

Kinda Blue!

We are in Hawaii!  We've been planning the trip for months - actually since April since we last went to Columbia, SC to see Mom-in-law Betty.  She mentioned she was attending a conference in the 50th state, and we decided then and there to invite ourselves along!  Then Niece Shannon wanted to join in, then Sis-in-law Susan from Dallas jumped, so we've got a real party!  We're doing lots of sightseeing things, since neither Melinda nor Shannon have ever been here.  It starts with an observatory tour at Mauna Kea tomorrow morning, and there will be snorkling, volcano-watchin' and lots-o-fun along the way.

The trip out was uneventful, but after leaving our interim stop in San Francisco, the bulk of the trip was over water, and I was shocked how blue it was. While sky blue is my favorite color (something about astronomers liking clear skies) from 35,000 feet, the sky is a different shade, and the ocean resembles something closer to sky blue from the ground.  That leg of the flight was over 5 hours, and we had an unremarkable movie double feature - something we never get to enjoy going to Chicago.  But even with Morgan Freeman it didn't hold my interest, though the low-fidelity earbuds that wouldn't stay in place plus my bad hearing made it nigh impossible to understand anything.  Hoping for more interesting features on the return, plus my own earbuds (checked in luggage on the way out - DOH!) should make for a better experience.

Finally, Hawaii materialized out of the mist!  Out our starboard-side windows, Maui materialized first, with Molakai in the distance.  A little further along and mighty Haleakala, a 10,000+ foot tall extinct volcano came to dominate our window.  It is of particular interest to me because like Mauna Kea on the Big Island, its peak is home to several telescopes for both national defense and astronomical research.  I've never been to Maui, but know about some of its instruments there.

 

Finally we landed on Hawaii - the Big Island!  We were literally in the last row of the plane, so were the last to depart, and turned to take a picture of our faithful steed - a 757 - I've not been on one since likely the last trip here in '03.  We had a little time to kill till Shannon arrived, so made it to the car rental place - of course, since nearly everyone on the plane goes to rent a car, we had a lice wait in line.  Back to the airport, we could stand a snack, but the airport restaurant is only for passengers after going thru security - bum deal!  Fortunately we found a little stand where I had the best chili dog ever!  The chili dog plate special came with white rice and about 10 molecules of potato salad, but with a diet Pepsi to wash it down, it was truly paradise on earth!  We ambled back to the terminal just as Shannons plane landed, and after getting her a lei, there she was!  It was good to see her, and she gets to hang with us till Betty and Susan arrive in a few hours.  More fun later and through next week!