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ONE in four must go. Hawaii鈥檚 giant (TMT) is back in business after a hiatus of 2 months 鈥� but at the expense of other telescopes.
鈥淲hen astronomers first came to build on Mauna Kea in the 1960s we were concerned,鈥� says Hawaiian activist Kealoha Pisciotta. 鈥淏ut back in the day Hawaiian people were oppressed and didn鈥檛 have a voice.鈥�
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聯Back in the day Hawaiians were oppressed and didn鈥檛 have a voice. That voice has now been heard聰
Hawaiians mounted round-the-clock protests against the new telescope, which would dwarf any observatory now in existence. Their objection: the mountain is sacred to indigenous Hawaiians.
That voice has now been heard, but at a cost to science. On 26 May, Hawaii governor David Ige announced that construction would resume 鈥� but by the time the TMT starts operation in the mid-2020s, at least one-quarter of the 13 telescopes on the summit must be shut down. By 2033, the University of Hawaii will also have to abandon 40 of the 45 square kilometres it leases from the state, and promise not to build telescopes on undeveloped land.
Mauna Kea has some of the clearest, most stable skies on the planet, which is why so many observatories have been built there. One of the 13, the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory, was already slated for shutdown next year. To meet Ige鈥檚 mandate, however, two or three more will have to go. And at the moment, nobody knows which ones.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淪cope it out鈥�