Mauna Kea

This is the great volcanic mountain known as Mauna Kea, rising 32,000 feet from the ocean floor to its apex. By this reckoning it is the tallest mountain mass in the world and currently home to a dozen astronomical observatories. If you look close at the summit you can just make out the twin domes of the W. M. Keck Observatory and a portion of the James Clark Maxwell Telescope to its right. This photograph was taken during Christmas week in 1991.

In the early evening of June 28 I ascended to the top of Mauna Kea with a small group of other adventurers in a 4x4 turbo diesel van. We arrived just minutes before sunset. The five white domes, here reflecting the late reddening sun are, left to right, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, Gemini Northern 8-meter Telescope, University of Hawaii 2.2-meter Telescope, United Kingdom Infrared Telescope, and the University of Hawaii 0.6-meter Telescope.

At 13,796 feet above sea level, we stood above 40% of the earth's atmosphere and above 98% of our atmosphere's moisture. It was near-freezing up there but somehow it didn't make me feel uncomfortable, although I did eventually zip up my parka and put on my gloves. The air was calm and not a cloud overhead. In fact, all the clouds were well below us at this altitude. In this sunset photo, left to right, stand the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and the Gemini Northern 8-meter Telescope. Any direction I turned was an awesome sight to behold.

As I was saying, any direction we looked presented us with a breathtaking vista. In this view to the south, a small cinder cone can be seen on the left and the dark massive Mauna Loa volcano, piercing the sky above the clouds in the far distance, center right of photo.

You had to be quick with your cameras on this trip. The sun dipped below the clouds before I even decided which of my two cameras would be best to use, my Kodak DC-210 digital or the Kodak Max disposable. I tried to shoot a few with each but settled on the digital, holding my sunglasses in front of the lens to get this and the next image. The silhouetted observatories in the foreground, from left to right, are the Subaru Telescope, the twin domes of the W. M. Keck Observatory, and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility. The Keck telescopes are the largest optical/infrared telescopes in the world. Each has a mirror 10 meters in diameter made up of 36 separate precisely-controlled segments joined together in a honeycomb fashion.

I watched this tranquil sunset hoping it would last forever, but those telescopes seemed to be watching eagerly for it to conclude in anticipation of another perfect night sky for stargazing.