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The optical/infrared facilities, top ridge from left: Subaru (8 m), Keck I and II (2 x 10 m),
IRTF (3 m), CFHT (3.6 m), Gemini North (8 m), UH (2.2 m), UKIRT (4 m) & UH (0.6 m).
Sub-millimetric wavelenghts antennas, front from left: SMA (8 x 6 m), JCMT (15 m), CSO (10 m).
Slightly below the summit ridges stands a VLBA radio telescope (25 m).
Photograph by J.-C. Cuillandre (CFHT), © 2000
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The Mauna Kea volcano, located on the Big Island in Hawaii, is the best ground-based
astronomical observing site in the northern hemisphere. The observatories on Mauna
Kea benefit from the high altitude (4,200 meters), which allows for a clearer and dryer
atmosphere, a darker sky, more clear nights per year and, most importantly, sharper
images thanks to low atmospheric turbulence at the top of the mountain.
The Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii supports a service organization,
Mauna Kea Observatories Support
Services (MKSS), which in turn helps coordinate the activities of organizations
forming the Mauna Kea Observatories.
The MKSS also has the responsibility of supporting the
Onizuka Center For International
Astronomy, a visitor center located halfway up the mountain, easily accessible by a
paved road, with lots of information on astronomy and the Mauna Kea Observatories.
More information about Mauna Kea and about visiting the summit can be found on the
Mauna Kea Observatories site.
The various facilities forming the Mauna Kea Observatories
All photographs by J.-C. Cuillandre (CFHT), © 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
Comments to J.-C. Cuillandre [jcc@cfht.hawaii.edu]
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