Thirty Meter Telescope

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BMAONE23
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Thirty Meter Telescope

Post by BMAONE23 » Tue Jul 29, 2014 5:03 pm

LiveScience wrote:Giant Galaxy-Spying Telescope Set to Break Ground in Hawaii
...
When it begins operations, TMT will enable astronomers to explore objects inside the solar system, stars throughout the Milky Way and neighboring galaxies, and forming galaxies at the farthest edge of the observable universe.

Since the site was chosen, the telescope's construction has been controversial among native Hawaiians, for whom the volcano represents sacred ground.

Nevertheless, the first phase of construction is scheduled to begin later this year, on a mountain that's host to other world-class observatories, including the twin 33-foot (10 m) Keck telescopes. The proposed telescope would be three times the size of each of the Keck telescopes.

The TMT Observatory Corp. was launched in 2003 by the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy (ACURA), the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of California.

The observatory's current members include Caltech, the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Institutes of Natural Sciences in Japan, and the University of California. India and Canada are associates, and are expected to become full members later this year and in 2015, respectively.

The construction site will be graded in preparation for a dedication ceremony in October. Meanwhile, TMT's international partners have already begun work off-site.

China is developing the telescope's main mirror system, lasers, laser guide star systemsand other components.
The only way I will ever get one of these in my backyard will be to move to the mountain

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bystander
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Re: Thirty Meter Telescope

Post by bystander » Tue Jul 29, 2014 5:37 pm

Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

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neufer
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Re: Thirty Meter Telescope

Post by neufer » Wed Oct 31, 2018 12:46 pm

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-04444-2 wrote:
Embattled Thirty Meter Telescope scores big win in Hawaii's highest court
State supreme court rules that the US$1.4-billion observatory's construction permit is valid, after years-long legal battle.
Alexandra Witze, NEWS 31 October 2018

<<Hawaii's supreme court has ruled in favour of building the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) atop the mountain of Mauna Kea. The decision clears the last legal hurdle for the US $1.4-billion project to resume construction on Hawaii's Big Island.

For years, the next-generation astronomical observatory has been mired in public protests and legal challenges. Some Native Hawaiians say that building the mega-telescope would further desecrate a sacred mountain that is already home to multiple observatories. In April 2015, protesters blocked the road to Mauna Kea's summit as construction of the TMT was set to begin. That December, the state supreme court revoked the project's construction permit, saying that the state government had granted it before opponents of the telescope had their full say.

Hawaii's Board of Land and Natural Resources issued a fresh construction permit in September 2017, which opponents appealed. The latest ruling upholds that permit.

A separate legal issue, involving the University of Hawaii's sublease of land atop Mauna Kea for the TMT site, was resolved in August. The state supreme court ruled in the project's favour in that case as well.

TMT officials have been considering an alternate site for the telescope, in the Canary Islands, in case they cannot resolve the legal and political obstacles to building in Hawaii. It could take months before project leaders decide whether to go ahead in Hawaii, now that they have the supreme court's backing. Among the issues they face is how to restart construction on Mauna Kea, given the protests that broke out the last time they tried to do so.>>
Art Neuendorffer

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