Just back from my honeymoon so look out for my Hawaiian reviews!!!
Just back from my honeymoon so look out for my Hawaiian reviews!!!
Member since:14.10.2005
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Hawaii is world famous for many things, surfing, loud shirts, hula girls etc. but there is also one other thing that is probably the world leader for, and that is Astronomy. Several of the worlds most advanced telescopes are situated at the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii, representing astronomical investment from many of the world’s largest countries such as the USA, UK, Japan and several others.
Astronomy has always been of interest to me, especially since I focused quite a bit on theoretical astrophysics as part of my degree and my final year project was involved with galaxy formation models. Throughout my courses I had often seen pictures of this location, known as the Astronomy Precinct, but never thought that it would be somewhere that I would get the chance to visit. However, when our honeymoon to Hawaii was booked, we soon started looking for a trip to the site and ended up booking with Mauna Kea Summit Adventures, booked through the vastly useful Tom Barefoot.
Mauna Kea
Mauna Kea is in fact the world’s tallest mountain at 33,746 feet from base to summit (compared to Everest which is 29,029 feet tall) It is though only 13,803 feet from sea level given that the vast bulk is under the ocean floor, thus making it accessible by car from the beach. It is however shrinking as its massive weight depresses the Pacific floor and it is expected that it might one day be overtaken by Mauna Loa, also located on the island. One of 5 shield volcanoes that together form the Big Island of Hawaii (Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, Kohala, Hualalai and Kilauea), it is a dormant volcano with the distinctive caldera now filled in so doesn’t resemble your average volcano. The name Mauna Kea means
white mountain in the traditional Hawaiian language, due to it’s summit often being covered in snow and is believed to be home to the Snow Goddess, Poliahu.
Due to its massive height, the mountain sits above 40% of the Earth’s atmosphere and 90% of its water vapour. This allows exceptionally clear images of the night sky as compared to ground level. Combined with its location at a latitude of just 20°N which allows good views of both the Southern and Northern skies, the low population density of Hawaii leading to little in terms of light pollution and the fact that the summit sits above an inversion layer leading to 300+ clear nights every year and it is obvious to see why so many organisations have set their telescopes at the summit.
As mentioned previously, the summit does see regular snowfall and although there are no recognised ski areas or lifts, our guide on this trip did say that people do ski on the mountain. The snow also leads to an interesting variation on a traditional challenge. Historically men would try to show their courage by climbing to the summit of the mountain and then trying to take a snow ball down to the beaches. Apparently, today, when there is snow fall many locals drive to the summit in their 4x4’s, load the boot with snow and then drive to the coast to have a snow ball fight on a sun drenched beach!
The Trip
When booking our trip we did look at a couple of providers and chose this one because of its affiliation with Tom Barefoot and the fact that most of our trips were booked through them. I don’t think however that the link between the two companies is one of chance as we found throughout our stay in the islands that Tom Barefoot only dealt with those offering the best trips.
Established 25 years ago, the Mauna Kea Summit Adventures (also seems to be listed as Paradise Safaris in some locations) is the longest running trip to the summit of Mauna Kea. Using 4-wheel drive, air-conditioned mini buses, we were picked up from the King’s shopping centre on the Waikoloa resort on which we were staying. We must have looked quite out of place as we waited in our hiking boots and long trousers in the lunch time sun (boots were an advantage but not needed), especially as the shopping centre was home to some high class shops such as Tiffany’s! We were part of a group of 7 people picked up at the shops (4 more were picked up later on) and the tour was a real mix including ourselves, another British honeymoon couple, a family with their Hungarian relatives, an American couple and a lady holidaying on her own. I think that I was the only one with a background in astronomy, showing how the trip really is for all.
Our driver/guide for the trip was Rick, an extremely knowledgeable individual who obviously took great pride in informing us all about the islands of Hawaii, their traditional culture and also the reasoning for the telescopes being where they were. There was so much information that I probably was only able to absorb a fraction of it but he was always happy to answer any questions that any of us had and stop on a couple of occasions for photo opportunities on solid lava flows and similar.
After a couple of hours of driving we reached the Ellison Onizuka Visitor Centre (named for the Hawaiian born astronaut killed in the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster) which is situated at 9,300 feet above sea level. The visitor centre is home to several exhibits on space and astronomy and hosts a nightly telescope session for the general public to view the skies through their high tech equipment (unfortunately you can’t view the sky through the summit observatories as a) they are busy doing their work and b) they aren’t your traditional type of scope so don’t actually have a viewfinder!). There is also a small shop but the main reason for our stopping was to get some food and acclimatise to the reduced oxygen levels before hitting the summit. Part of your cost includes a hot meal which was really nice and it was at this point that we met up with the company’s other mini-bus that had travelled from the other side of the island and received our meals. We were also issued with thick parkas to protect from what can be a biting wind although at that point I still found it quite warm and was just in a lightweight
Pictures of Mauna Kea Summit Adventures, Kona Coast
The observatories at the summit of Mauna Kea, as seen from a plane on a trip taken a couple of days earlier.
jumper. After our break we loaded up again and hit the summit. The final part of the road is in a much better condition than the rest of the mountain as to avoid dust being kicked up in to the air and obscuring the observatories views. As you zig-zag up the side the views are spectacular, although by this point you can’t see much land due to you now being above the inversion layer mentioned earlier. As we reached the Astronomy Precinct it was quite amazing to see in person what I had seen so many times in pictures and we soon stopped at one of the observatories for an ‘orientation lesson’. This was led by Richard who was driving the other mini-bus and he was just as knowledgeable as Rick, pointing out all of the different observatories and explaining what many of them did. From here we moved up to one of the highest points accessible by visitors (the highest point on the mountain I sacred to native Hawaiians and hence only accessible to them) and watched sunset from the tallest point in the world! It is a truly spectacular experience seeing the sunset from such a height as we watched the shadow of Mauna Kea sitting on the clouds and also spotting the peaks of Mauna Loa and Haleakala on the nearby island of Maui. The views are amazing, as can be seen from the attached photos, but need to be seen to be truly believed. By this point the cold had started to come in and I too, was bundled up in my parka.
As soon as the sun had finished setting, the observatories around the mountain top started whirring into action and all of the tours that had been at the summit started bundling back in to mini-buses and heading back down the mountain. The steep roads in the dark were quite an experience although nowhere near so much as when the tours first started and they had to do this first bit with no headlights to avoid light pollution!
After a brief stop at the visitor centre for the toilet we then set off to find a spot to do some real astronomy. There seems to be an unwritten rule of the mountain that the older your tour, the better the spot you can lay claim on, definitely a benefit then of being on the oldest tour. Whilst many of the tours stopped at the visitor centre and made use of their equipment, we headed off the beaten track to a clearing a couple of miles away. Amateur astronomy is apparently better at these slightly lower heights than the summit and the guys soon had the top of the range telescopes out and calibrated whilst we tucked in to a hot drink and a cookie. For many in the group what we were shown were probably just amazing, pretty pictures but I revelled in seeing things such as a binary star system and the Ring Nebula (my wife really enjoys telling people how she saw a Death Star through the telescope!!). Again, the knowledge of the guys was top rate and they also inter-joined common astronomical learning with what the Hawaiians traditionally used and called the stars. The final thing that we viewed was the moon which was bright in the sky and seemingly very close. I have viewed this before at home but the clarity of the image made it seem more like I was looking at a High Definition picture on my PC, it was really amazing.
Finally it was time to head home and we all bundled back in to the buses for the final time. By this point we had been on the go for several hours and it was getting later so many people took the opportunity for a nap but this is something I seem to have an inherent inability to do so I just watched as we descended, back in to flora that had been missing toward the summit and also the lava fields that we had become accustomed to during our stay. We were dropped off back at the shops where we had been collected several hours earlier after what had been an amazing trip that had met and then bettered my expectations.
Conclusion
I would thoroughly recommend this trip to anyone visiting the big island of Hawaii; it was possibly my favourite moments of the entire holidays. As I mentioned, I had a personal interest in the subject before hand, but I really don’t think that this is required at all. My wife enjoyed it just as much as I did and much of this was due to the staff on the trip and their infinite knowledge, and also the amazing view that can be appreciated by everyone, astronomer or not. The man in the other honeymoon couple had done the trip previously when on his gap year and had brought his new bride back and I would definitely book to do it again if I am lucky enough to go the area again in the future.
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