The Mauna Kea Observatory Complex

These are photos I took of the Mauna Kea Observatory Complex on my last day in Hawai'i. In one of these photos I mistakenly say that Pele is the Goddess of Mauna Kea, when she is, in fact, the Goddess of Mauna Loa.

Mauna Kea from the Queen Kaahumanu (Queen K) Highway. 

Mauna Kea from the Kohala Mountain Road. 

Mauna Kea Observatory from Kohala. 

Hopefully, your computers and your eyes will be able to resolve this image. This is Mauna Kea at sunset from the city of Hilo. I took this the night before I drove to the top. 

These are 2 telescopes at the summit of Mauna Kea. Mauna Kea means "White Mountain" and it is fairly easy to see why; that's snow in the foreground. The ambient air temeprature at the summit was a comfortable -1C, or so said the thermometer in my vehicle. It felt good to walk out and touch the snow as it reminded me of what it was like when I left Ottawa. The general temperature all over Hawai'i when I was there was about 25C. 

A grouping of telescopes. 

This is another grouping of telescopes. 

This is the NASA Infrared Telescope. 

This is a grouping of fairly small radio telescopes. 

This is a large radio telescope on Mauna Kea. 

If I am not mistaken, this is the world famous Keck telescope, one of, if not the largest optical telescope on Earth. It has been used by innumerable scientists to add to our understanding of the universe. 

This is what Mauna Kea looks like at its summit. For those of you who have not been, it closely resembles the Canadian Arctic. 

This is a large telescope on Mauna Kea's summit. 

This is a shot of Mauna Loa from the top of Mauna Kea. Mauna Loa's crater is clearly visible at the top of the mountain. 

Just another shot of Mauna Loa. 

You can see how high I am because those really are cloud tops in the center and stretching back to the horizon. 

Just before I drove down, I took this photo from an elevation of about 4 000 meters. The foreground clearly shows Mauna Kea's moonscape and the background is actually the tops of clouds. 

This, and the succeeding 3 photos, form a panorama of Mauna Loa from Mauna Kea. 

Photo 2 

Photo 3 

Photo 4 

This is just another view of Mauna Loa from the road leading up to the peak of Mauna Kea. 

This is the valley in between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa which I dubbed "Battlefield Valley". This is because in Hawai'ian mythology Pele, Goddess of Mauna Kea, squared off against the Goddess of Mauna Loa, I forget her name, in this valley. It is a very desolate place. 

These are cinder cones, "mini-volcanoes", in Battlefield Valley. 

I took this photo from Waimea using the 12X zoom ability of my camera. The Observatory Complex is clearly visible in the center of the picture. This was obviously taken after I had come down from Mauna Kea. I took this in a larger than normal format so that smaller details could be more easily seen and hopefully, that is how it will come out for you.