Pete's Amateur Astronomy Web Site

Pete's Astronomy Website

Mona Kea Observatories

Visit to the Mona Kea Observatories, Hawaii

January 25th, 2011

This enormously impressive collection of telescopes is located near the summit of Mona Kea on the Big Island of Hawai'i at an elevation of more than 13,500 feet. The summit is home to about 13 working telescopes; nine for optical and infrared work, three for submillimeter wavelengths and one for radio astronomy. A map of the summit is shown below. More information on these observatories can be found at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy website.

The photographs below show the two domes of the W.M. Keck Observatory, each housing its own 10-meter telescope! On the day of our visit (Tuesday, 01/25/2011), the summit was far above the surrounding cloudbanks and occasionally the peaks of nearby mountains could be seen jutting up through the the cloudtops from below. More photographs from our visit may be viewed by clicking HERE.

Pete's Astronomy Website