Posted on: Sunday, June 12, 2005

Subaru Telescope is a marvel to see

By Karin Stanton
Associated Press

MAUNA KEA SUMMIT, Hawai'i — The Subaru Telescope, perched atop the world's highest island mountain, is one of science's most astonishing achievements.

Standing atop the 13,796-foot summit of Mauna Kea, surrounded by one dozen of the world's premier telescopes is just as mind-blowing.

The dormant volcano's height and remote location make it among the finest peaks for land-based astronomy. The skies are clear enough for serious stargazing 330 or more nights each year.

Subaru offers 30-minute public tours of the facility on weekdays (see www.subarutelescope.org). A four-wheel-drive vehicle is needed to get to the summit.

The trip from Hilo or Kona takes about 3› hours. That includes a stop at the 9,000-foot level, at the visitor information center of the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy — highly recommended to acclimate to the altitude, which can be dangerous to children, pregnant women and people with respiratory or cardiac problems.

The newest telescope within the Mauna Kea Science Reserve, the Subaru boasts the largest single-piece mirror in the world.

The 27-footidiameter mirror arrived by ship on the Big Island in November 1998 and was big news when it was trucked up the mountainside. Interest has not waned in the seven years since the $400 million project was completed.

The optical-infrared telescope is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and the University of Hawai'i.

One recent tour, led by guide Andrew Hasagawa, included an expert who was as awed as I was as we stood in the 140-foot-tall cylindrical enclosure, watching as the massive structure began a whisper-quiet tilt from vertical to almost horizontal.

Dr. James Dire, physics section chief at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., quizzed Hasagawa about the intricacies of the operation that can analyze visible and infrared light, as well as provide images and spectroscopic measurements for objects, stars and galaxies beyond our own.

The Subaru gives the immediate impression of a George Lucas creation for a "Star Wars" film. A giant death ray, perhaps, with a scaffolding skeleton painted an unlikely powder blue and a menacing look to the pointy end that thankfully is turned skyward.

After listening to Hasagawa's knowledgeable answers to Dire's technical questions, the best I could figure is the telescope is like the world's biggest digital camera.

The 500-ton structure swivels smoothly on a thin film of oil. Robots move or attach various instruments, such as ancillary mirrors or cameras. Fistfuls of thick cables hang like neckties from a metal plate suspended from the ceiling, solving the problem of cable tangles.

The staff of 110 is focused on maintaining and caring for the pieces of specialized equipment and the 23-ton ultra-low thermal expansion mirror. Only 8 inches thick, it is supported on a bed of 261 computer-controlled fingers.

According to the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, the telescope "can now see almost all the way back to the beginning of time itself."

It's impressive even for academics like Dire; flabbergasting to those of us who plodded through high school science.