Jeff Kuhn, a solar astronomer and associate director for the IfA's Haleakala operation, says he is looking forward to holding an open house in mid-September to show the community just what has to happen before skywatchers get to take pictures through their telescopes.

The IfA is part of the University of Hawaii Department of Physics & Astronomy, providing instruction primarily in graduate programs for astronomy but also managing and operating the astronomical facilities on Mauna Kea and Haleakala.

Astronomy is really remote sensing, Kuhn said. Astronomers have to design the sensors. Then they have to build them.

It is exacting work and the support facilities on Maui have long been inadequate for providing services to the Haleakala summit observatories.

Some of the instruments are the first of their kind, and it is not unusual for the research and development costs to run from $1 million to $5 million.

The new facilities on a 2-acre site at Kulamalu will provide laboratory spaces, optical mountings, a mill and all the apparatus required to build precision instruments.

Outside, a mirror will be available to direct sunlight or starlight into the lab. Kuhn says it will both easier and cheaper to test these novel instruments in the lab than to wait until they are mounted in a telescope atop the mountain.

Six years ago, the state agreed to fund a modern facility. The IfA "can't be competitive" in bidding for interesting projects without it, Kuhn says.

Everett Dowling, developer of Kulamalu and a former University of Hawaii regent, offered the site in his Pukalani project district in 2005.

"We are proud to be a part of this effort to bring the vision of the new Advanced Technology Research Center to reality, as the facility will elevate our island and state's image as a home for the most serious technological and scientific investment," he said.

IfA Director Rolf-Peter Kudritzki said the facilities on Maui will allow the institute to upgrade its operations statewide.

"With the Maui ATRC, we will bring to the state a shared technology facility with capabilities that are not available anywhere else in Hawaii," he said.

Mike Maberry, IfA assistant director for external affairs, described the old IfA headquarters at Waiakoa as "bucolic." The farmhouse is more than 80 years old and was being used as a goat barn when the university purchased it.

For more information, visit www.ifa.hawaii.edu.

Harry Eagar can be reached at heagar@mauinews.com.