Becky emailed me back and forth efficiently and picked up her phone to chat about any questions I had as well. Leading up to the scheduled day, our family (my fiancé, brother and sister in law) had to juggle around some plans and needed to reschedule a few days before our scheduled tour. She's right up there with Neil deGrasse Tyson in the way she makes learning fun.ĮXCELLENT! AMAZING! MEMORABLE! INSPIRING! THIS TOUR IS A MUST-DO BEFORE YOU LEAVE MAUI !!!īecky was our guide on this tour. Her passion and love for astronomy is evident and you can't help but get excited along with her. I have never seen a happier, more enthusiastic science nerd in my life - and I mean that in the most complimentary way. The biggest reason why you'll want to do this tour instead of any others is Becky herself. She even packed chairs! I don't know how she fits it all in her trunk - she is just amazing and thinks of everything. She provided coats for us to wear when it got cold and they were clean and warm. She had prepared a great picnic for us and we were snacking through the whole night. But the most mind-blowing part for me was when she pointed the telescope at what looked like a very un-presuming star in the sky, only to reveal that what looked like one star to us was actually a star nursery with 50 suns! We could see each sun in the telescope. We watched the Hubble telescope pass by, and saw a half-dozen shooting stars. We looked at Jupiter with three of its moons and even saw the rings of Saturn. We started with the sun, then saw Venus and Mars. We still watched the sunset from above the clouds (it was peaceful and colorful) and we saw so much. I was worried something of the experience would be lost by not being at the summit, but that wasn't the case. When making our arrangements, she was a great communicator and flexible to work with us around the other activities we had planned for that day. Its website says the new observatory would be able to provide images 12 times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope and four times sharper than the new James Webb Space Telescope.īut there was strong opposition to its arrival.Īctivists, including native Hawaiians and conservationists, protested the TMT multiple times between 20, saying its massive size could potentially spoil the land on Mauna Kea's already crowded summit.My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our stargazing tour with Becky. Scientists are excited about the new project, which was first granted a sublease on Mauna Kea in 2014. The Thirty-Meter Telescope, or "TMT", named after the diameter of its primary mirror, would be one of the world's largest upon completion. There are now a total of 13 observatories on the mountain, with plans to decommission two of them to help reduce astronomers' footprint on the mountain.īut there are plans to add another, much bigger telescope already under way. It also happens to be ideal for observatories.Īndrew Richard Hara/W. Mauna Kea is considered sacred to Native Hawaiians.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |