![]() ![]() Some are concerned that the land, which is considered a sacred spot for Native Hawaiians, was not properly appraised by the TMT Observatory Corporation.ĭuring the project's groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday, which was webcast on Thirty Meter Telescope's official website, yelling could be heard in the background of the blessing. Astronomers chose Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii because the elevation of 14,000 feet was ideal for observation.īut the project, which will cost $1.4 billion, has its opponents. Promising to be one of the world's largest telescopes, Thirty Meter will be built to help scientists study the universe from a distance of about 13 billion light years. “That sense of injustice has perpetuated until today.Big Island Video News sums up the years-long controversy surrounding the Thirty Meter Telescope, which broke ground Tuesday on Hawaii's Mauna Kea. “And that is an open wound from a very proud internationally-recognized kingdom,” Simons said. Simons also said he respects the protesters, explaining that Mauna Kea is part of land that belonged to the Hawaiian Kingdom before it was overthrown in 1893 with support from the U.S. “These big telescopes will be first opportunity to probe time and space.” One of the hot topics in astronomy now is figuring out what happened between Big Bang and what happened with the first generation of galaxies,” Doug Simons, director of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, which has been operating on Mauna Kea since 1979, told VOA in an earlier interview. The University of California and the California Institute of Technology in 2003 began developing the new telescope which they say will allow astronomers an unprecedented view of the universe, perhaps as far back as the Big Bang, more than 13 billion years ago. The Kanaka consider the mountain to be sacred.įurther, he said, the protesters - who prefer the use of the term "protectors" - were not given any voice in the decision to construct the TMT.įILE - Observatories and telescopes sit atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii's tallest mountain and designated construction site for a new $1.4 billion telescope, near Hilo, Hawaii, Aug. It feels like an industrial park.”īut it’s much more than that, he said. “And when you drive up there now, you’d never know you were in a conservation area. There are already something like 26 different structures at the summit,” he said. “Because the mountain, this whole area, is actually zoned as conservation land. In February, Lanakila Mangauil, activist and director of the Hawaiian Cultural Center of Hamakua, told VOA why the Kanaka oppose the project so vehemently. The proclamation followed the arrest of a group of more than 30 activists who refused to move from the site Wednesday. Protesters insist they won’t back down and are calling on Hawaii Governor David Ige to rescind an emergency proclamation he issued Wednesday that broadens the state’s power to restrict access to Maunakea and clear the way for construction crews. This is a global movement, and the world is watching.ĭemonstrators gather to block a road at the base of Hawaii's tallest mountain, Monday, July 15, 2019, in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, to protest the construction of a giant telescope on land that some Native Hawaiians consider sacred. It reads, in part, “This is not just about one mountain in Hawaii. ![]() Separately, a petition calling for a halt to the telescope’s construction, as of Friday morning, had garnered more than 80,000 signatures. “We write today, not to place a value judgment on the future of TMT on Maunakea, but to question the methods by which we are getting the telescope on the mountain in the first place.”Īuthors also called on the community to consider whether the project is worth “the damage to our relationship with Kanaka Maoli.” “We want to acknowledge the investment that so many colleagues within the astronomy community have made towards the project’s completion,” the letter reads. The letter is signed by 85 graduate students and more than 400 undergraduate students. In an open letter published on Google, authors call on TMT and the government of Hawaii to stop arresting and charging people and to remove military and law enforcement personnel from the mountain. ![]() A group of international astrophysicists and astronomers are speaking out against what they call the "criminalization" of Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) and their allies protesting the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on the summit Mauna Kea on Hawaii’s “big island.” ![]()
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