Must-see attractions in Maunakea

  • Gemini North Observatory on top of Mauna Kea mountain peak on Big Island of Hawaii, United States with deep blue sky and volcanic landscape.
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    Mauna Kea's Summit Area

    Maunakea

    At 13,796ft in the air, you are above 40% of the atmosphere and 90% of its water vapor – apparently perfect conditions for growing the giant mushroom-like…

  • At 13,020 ft. one of the highest freshwater lakes in the USA.
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lake waiau

    Lake Waiʻau

    Maunakea

    On an island with a conspicuous dearth of surface water, tiny Lake Waiʻau's existence on a porous lava mountain is something of an enigma. Hawaiian…

  • Mauna Kea Adz Quarry

    Maunakea

    Quarries scattered over 7.5 sq miles produced tons of exceptionally dense and fine-grained basalt (dubbed Hawaiʻiite) used to make a tool similar to an ax…

  • Subaru Telescope

    Maunakea

    When it came online in 1999, Japan's 26.9ft Subaru Telescope was the most expensive observatory ever constructed. The 22-ton mirror is one of the largest…

  • Observatory in Hawaii.
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"Keck Observatory, Alien, Big Island, Cloud, Hawaii Islands, Mauna Kea, Medicine And Science, Observatory, Planet, Research, Research, Science, Science Backgrounds", Space, Star, Sunset

    WM Keck Observatory

    Maunakea

    Mirrors larger than 26.2ft are so heavy that gravity distorts them as they move. Keck's breakthrough design overcame that limitation in 1993 by using a…

  • Thirty Meter Telescope (planned)

    Maunakea

    Walk behind the Keck Twins and look northwest and you'll see...nothing. Down there is the ideal location for the TMT, which supersizes Keck's many-small…

  • Submillimeter Array

    Maunakea

    These eight 19.7ft radio telescopes work together (via supercomputer) to create image resolutions equal to an antenna 0.3 miles in diameter. The SMA…

  • United Kingdom Infrared Telescope

    Maunakea

    Even though this 3.8m (12.5ft) telescope is the second-largest dedicated infrared telescope in the world, it will soon be decommissioned according to the…

  • Puʻu Wekiu

    Maunakea

    Hawaiian cultural practitioners ask that visitors respect the sacred true summit of Mauna Kea and not hike the trail to the top of the cinder cone (13…

  • University of Hawai‘i 0.9m Telescope

    Maunakea

    Hoku Kea was meant to be a teaching telescope, but the original 0.9m (3ft) mirror was delivered warped and the manufacturer went bankrupt. So, it has…

  • Gemini Northern Telescope

    Maunakea

    When this 26.6ft telescope is paired with its twin in Chile, they are able to cover almost the entire sky. In 2014, Gemini used speckle imaging to help…

  • NASA Infrared Telescope Facility

    Maunakea

    Able to utilize multiple sensors, this 3m (9.8ft) infrared telescope has diverse applications, from close-to-home observations – like measuring the ozone…

  • University of Hawaiʻi 2.2m Telescope

    Maunakea

    UH2.2 (if you go metric, UH88 if you prefer inches) was a pioneer of Mauna Kea. As the first large telescope on the mountain (1970), its great imagery…

  • Very Long Baseline Array

    Maunakea

    One of 10 identical radio receivers that span 5351 miles from Mauna Kea to St Croix, US Virgin Islands. The $85 million project went online in 1993 and…

  • Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope

    Maunakea

    This 3.6m (11.8ft) optical/infrared telescope's first light was 1979, making it the oldest operational telescope on the mountain. It specializes in wide…

  • Apollo Valley

    Maunakea

    Just past Mile 4 on the east side of the summit road, a washed-out valley full of grayish glacial till and rocks is a dead ringer for the surface of the…

  • Humu‘ula Sheep Station

    Maunakea

    For 100 years these pastures were filled with sheep, and that historical legacy is marked by nearby rock walls stacked by Japanese laborers and the Humu…

  • James Clerk Maxwell Telescope

    Maunakea

    You can easily recognize the JCMT by the world's largest sheet of Gore-Tex® which covers the telescope allowing it to operate night and day. Its 49.2ft…