News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Hawaii Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Building Thirty Meter Telescope.

Re:Hawaii Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Building Thirty Me... by NotAmazin on Wednesday October 31, 2018 @02:00PM (#18347911)
>Thirty Meter astronomers had said if they didn’t get a green light to build on Mauna Kea, they would build it on La Palma in the Canary Islands, off Africa.

Good for them

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Hawaii Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Building Thirty Me... by pastor_elm on Wednesday October 31, 2018 @02:04PM (#18347944)
Mauna Kea is 6000 ft higher though.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Hawaii Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Building Thirty Me... by vatueil on Wednesday October 31, 2018 @09:41PM (#18350823)
La Palma's air quality is also not as good as Mauna Kea's (more dust blowing over from the Sahara), if I recall correctly. It may be the second best site in the northern hemisphere, but it's significantly behind the top choice.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Hawaii Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Building Thirty Me... by Florin_Andrei on Wednesday October 31, 2018 @03:22PM (#18348551)
Altitude is not everything, and higher altitude does not automatically translate into better performance of the instrument. There are many, many factors that matter, including light pollution, transparency, cloud cover, air turbulence, jet streams, etc.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Hawaii Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Building Thirty Me... by bobiverse on Wednesday October 31, 2018 @03:53PM (#18348750)
A report by the Canadian Astronomical Society (Canada has a ~15% stake) found that with taking all these variables into play, Mauna Kea is still the best site for TMT. See page 35 for the final recomendations: http://casca.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/CATAC-Report-Fina...
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Hawaii Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Building Thirty Me... by Florin_Andrei on Wednesday October 31, 2018 @03:56PM (#18348768)
Of course. I was not saying Mauna Kea is not a good location. I was just saying there is a whole bunch of factors that matter besides altitude.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Hawaii Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Building Thirty Me... by dmix on Wednesday October 31, 2018 @03:18PM (#18348510)
..and off Africa.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Hawaii Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Building Thirty Me... by fusiongyro on Thursday November 01, 2018 @12:25AM (#18351449)
I had the impression this was more of a negotiating tactic than an actual plan. But this is like fourth-hand rumor.
[ Parent | on HN ]