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from the only-18.9-inches-shy-of-100-foot-telescope dept.
Hawaii top court approves controversial Thirty Meter Telescope
Hawaii's Supreme Court has approved construction of what will be one of the world's largest single telescopes, on the controversial site of Mauna Kea.
Work on the $1.4bn (£1bn) Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) had paused in 2015 after protests from some native Hawaiians, to whom the land is sacred.
The state's top court ruled 4-1 in favour of the scientists on Tuesday.
Mauna Kea already has 13 telescopes; activists say their construction has interfered with cultural practices.
For years, protesters - including some environmentalists - have said building what is planned to be the world's biggest telescope on a site already saturated with observatories would further desecrate and pollute the sacred mountain.
On Tuesday, Hawaii's Governor David Ige thanked the top court for its ruling in a statement, saying he believes the decision is "fair".
Previously: Protests Temporarily Halt Thirty-Meter Telescope's Construction in Hawaii
Hawaiian Court Revokes Permit for Construction of Thirty-Meter-Telescope
Thirty Meter Telescope Considering Move as Hawaii Officials Open Hearing
Related: National Academies Report Urges Increased Study of Exoplanets in Order to Search for Alien Life
(Score: 2) by aim on Friday November 02 2018, @10:50AM (3 children)
There's also an article at the BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46046864 [bbc.com]
Around the end they write how the team says it would be the largest ground based telescope... yeah, sure - the EELT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremely_Large_Telescope [wikipedia.org] is in the making and will outclass the TMT, at close to 40m...
Of course, this isn't a comparison of "hand" size - with the TMT on the northern half of earth and the EELT on the south, they'll observe different targets, and science will benefit from both.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday November 02 2018, @12:36PM (1 child)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremely_large_telescope#List_of_telescopes [wikipedia.org]
TMT could have held the crown for a while if it hadn't been massively delayed by protesters (like Jason Momoa!).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday November 02 2018, @04:46PM
They can still redesign and rename it ... Telescopes is one area where "mine's bigger than yours" is actually good for everybody.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 02 2018, @02:23PM
I'm hoping they start construction on the oppressively colossal telescope [xkcd.com] soon.