Starship Asterisk*

Towering over the island of Maui is Haleakalā, a 10,023-foot-high dormant volcano whose dramatic summit caldera draws 1.3 million tourists per year. As these visitors take in the breathtaking vista, they can't help but notice the compound of large observatories nearby — testimony to the summit's superb conditions for astronomy.

In Hawaiian culture, Haleakalā is also revered as the sacred "House of the Sun." So it's seemingly fitting that later this year astronomers hope to being construction of the world's largest and most powerful observatory dedicated to the study of our star: the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope.