Haleakala a finalist for solar telescope
By Christie Wilson
Neighbor Island Editor
WAILUKU, Maui — Haleakala has made the cut as one of three candidates for a new $160 million Advanced Technology Solar Telescope.
It was announced earlier that the 10,023-foot Maui summit was one of six finalists chosen from 72 potential sites. After a yearlong evaluation, the National Solar Observatory and its partners narrowed the list to three sites: Haleakala, Big Bear Lake, Calif., and La Palma in Spain's Canary Islands.
Another year of study will be needed to determine which of the three has the best atmospheric conditions and other factors, said Stephen Keil, director of the National Solar Observatory. Final selection is expected in late 2004.
The 13-foot Advanced Technology Solar Telescope will be the world's largest ground-based solar optical observatory, employing recent advances in adaptive optics and other technologies to study sunspots, flares and other phenomena too small for detailed viewing by current telescopes.
The final three candidates will be judged for their daytime atmospheric characteristics, including frequently clear skies, low humidity, few aircraft contrails and low dust levels.
Rolf-Peter Kudritzki, director of the University of Hawai'i's Institute for Astronomy, said that while Mauna Kea is one of the world's top sites for nighttime star-gazing, Haleakala is a prime location for daytime viewing of the sun because of its geography and low dust levels.
"We are convinced that Haleakala is one of the very best sites in particular for studying the solar corona, that is, the outer layers of the sun that are normally seen only during solar eclipses," he said.
Haleakala already is home to the Mees Solar Observatory operated by UH, and other observatories. Kudritzki said that if the Maui site is selected, the new telescope would be built near the Mees Observatory, or the aging Mees facility could be torn down and replaced.
The telescope would be a "very important attraction" for scientists, and would provide another boost to Maui's burgeoning high-technology industry. Kudritizki said it also would mean that many of the National Solar Observatory's 100 employees now based in New Mexico would move to Maui and Honolulu.
