PUKALANI, Hawaii — A decision is expected by the end of the year on whether to go ahead with construction of the world’s largest optical solar telescope near the summit of Haleakala on Maui.

The National Science Foundation’s board of directors will determine the fate of the $161 million Advanced Technology Solar Telescope.
Native cultural preservationists oppose the project because they say the 143-foot-tall telescope is sacrilegious, unnecessary and ugly.
“The more you put up there, the more it washes out the sacred nature of the place,” said Kahu Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell Sr. “Everyone understands this is not just a special place for Hawaiians. This is where our alii (royalty) were buried, and where the gods and the spirits of our ancestors live.”
But astronomers and others view it as an opportunity to expand the world’s knowledge of the sun and predict disasters.
“It is a highly peer-reviewed telescope and was identified as the top priority for the National Science Foundation,” said Mike Maberry of the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy’s Maikalani Advanced Technology Research Center in Pukalani. “We’re being as respectful as we possibly can to the host culture and their concerns.”
The National Science Foundation said earlier this month that Haleakala is the best site in the world for the proposed telescope. The foundation reached its conclusion after a two-year study of 70 possible sites, including Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island.
The federal government is accepting comments on the project until June 22 for a supplemental draft environmental impact statement that was published this month.
A series of public meetings are planned on Maui next month, and then a final environmental impact statement would need to be completed.
Construction could begin as early as fall 2010 and would last about four years.
The 13-foot-diameter telescope would study solar magnetic activities, the Earth’s climate, sunspots and mass ejections of radiation, according to the supplemental draft EIS.
The plasma radiation mass ejections, which are related to solar flares, have been known to knock out power grids and disable satellites.
Scientists would use the telescope to help them understand and predict the sun’s behavior.
Haleakala, or “House of the Sun,” is known in Hawaiian lore as the place where the demigod Maui roped the sun in order to slow its pace across the sky.
“The construction of a 14-story solar observatory on the sacred summit of Haleakala cannot be mitigated by implying that since our ancestors were farmers, fishermen, healers, artists and yes, astronomers, then building the observatory is consistent with Native Hawaiian tradition and spirituality,” said Kiope Raymond, leader of Kilakila O Haleakala, which was formed to fight the telescope.
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Information from: The Maui News, www.mauinews.com