UH Hilo Educational Telescope
Present UH Hilo Telescope
The UH Hilo 24" Educational Telescope (foreground) |
UH Hilo previously operated the educational telescope at the summit of Mauna Kea, at an elevation of 4200 meters (~14,000 ft.), as shown at left foreground. Below is an aerial view of the Mauna Kea summit telescope complex showing the location of the UH Hilo Educational Telescope. |
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Astronomy majors at UH Hilo get real hands-on experience by participating in research projects with faculty members and observatory staff at telescopes on Mauna Kea and the university's own 24-inch telescope on the summit (as shown above) which is equipped with electronic detectors for imaging and spectroscopy. Some recent students' work can be viewed at our student research page. Astronomy majors and non-majors are active in the Astronomy/Astrophysics Club on campus. Many students volunteer for service at the Mauna Kea Visitor Center and at the Mauna Kea telescopes for additional experience.
You can view current conditions at the site from the webcam at United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT), or the University of Hawaii Physics and Astronomy Mauna Kea Webcam.
The University of Hawaii observatory at the summit of Mauna Kea used to house the 24-inch (0.6m) telescope, which has now been decommissioned.
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The upgraded observatory is scheduled to house the new 36-inch (0.9m) telescope, as described below. The observatory upgrade was completed in October, 2008, awaiting the installation of the new 36-inch telescope which was rescheduled to be installed in mid-2009.
New Educational Telescope
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The University of Hawaii at Hilo has received funding from the National Science Foundation for an educational and research telescope on Mauna Kea, for the use of our faculty and students. The 0.9-m telescope is currently being built by Equinox Interscience of Golden, Colorado. The following page gives a look at the work in progress of the new telescope. Unfortunatly, delivery of the telescope has been delayed until mid-2009, with operational status possibly by Spring 2010.
When completed (rescheduled for mid-2009) the new telescope will be installed in a renovated observatory building in the Mauna Kea observatory complex. It will be remotely controllable from a control room near sea-level, on the Hilo campus. The telescope will be used both to train students in observatory operations and to conduct research projects with student participation, either as assistants or in support of theses and other student projects. When fully instrumented, the observatory will be capable of conducting observations in all areas of modern observational astronomy, and of wide-field imaging surveys for extrasolar planets, supernovae, and other survey targets. The new educational observatory will be the world's only at a modern, major observatory site and will constitute an astronomy educational resource of unprecedented value to students and faculty.