Recently, Hawaii saw protests against plans to start construction of a Thirty Meter Telescope atop Mauna Kea, the US state’s highest mountain at 14,000 feet.
About:
Who are involved? The telescope is being built by an international collaboration of government organisations and educational institutions, at a cost of $1.4 billion.
Name: “Thirty Metre” refers to the 30-metre diameter of the mirror, with 492 segments of glass pieced together.
Significance:
Once completed, it would be three times as wide as the world’s largest existing visible-light telescope. The larger the mirror, the more light a telescope can collect, which means, in turn, that it can “see” farther, fainter objects.
It would be more than 200 times more sensitive than current telescopes, and would be able to resolve objects 12 times better than the Hubble Space Telescope.
Application: One of its key uses will be the study of exoplanets, many of which have been detected in the last few years, and whether their atmospheres contain water vapour or methane — the signatures of possible life.
Opposition against its construction: Already the site of a number of observatories and 13 large telescopes, Mauna Kea is considered sacred by native Hawaiians who believe that such constructions defile the Mauna Kea mountain.
Way ahead: If the Thirty Metre Telescope cannot be built on Mauna Kea mountain in Hawaii, Spain’s Canary Islands is a backup site.
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