1. Why Mauna Kea?

2. Mauna Kea, Hawaii

3. Mauna Kea 13,824 ft

4. Astronomers observe through Atmospheric windows

5. KAO cabin pressure (2,600m) sea level Denver (1,690m) onset of hypoxemia (3,500m) Mount Graham (3,191m) Mauna Kea (4,215m) Llano do Hato (3,610m) highest living mammal (yak) “Death Zone” (5,500m) Reaching for the Stars Water Vapor

6. Location, location, location….

7. Location, Location, Location... Comfort Zone

8. The inversion layer

9. Adaptive Optics can be made to work... University of Hawaii/NSF Adaptive Optics System - Hokupa’a

10. V-band 0.6 arcsec Adaptive Optics at work Globular Cluster NGC6934 V (0.55um) band FWHM of 0.6” K (2.2um) band ~120 exposures totaling 23min FWHM of 0.09” Gemini Optical Image 2.2um (K) Hokupa’a ON

11. Light Pollution in the US Image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

12. Earth at Night Image from the International Dark Sky Association

13. Mauna Kea at Night

14. The Competition …..

15. HST 8 meters 2.4 meters $440M $1.75M UKIRT GEMINI One advantage of being on the ground - collecting area & cost $2.00M

16. Atacama Desert, Chile

17. Atacama Desert, 18,000 ft Images from NASA’s Nomad Test Expedition

18. 21 st Century Ground-Based Observatory -- 50m Class Telescope