SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Submitted via IRC for Bytram
Divisive giant telescope cleared for construction on Hawaiian peak
Last week, the state of Hawaii gave astronomers a green light to begin to build the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), which would rise on the volcanic peak of Mauna Kea as one of the largest telescopes in the world. Project leaders say they are set to begin construction after a 4-year delay caused by sit-down protests and court challenges from Native Hawaiians opposed to structures on a site they consider sacred. But some astronomers worry the threat of disruptions and even violence will persist.
"These are passionate people," says Richard Ellis, an astronomer at University College London who helped develop the TMT concept. "They know that once it gets going their case is weaker." Others say the project should do more to engage with the protesters. "We need to talk with people who disagree with us," says Thayne Currie, an astrophysicist the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, who works on Japan's Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea.
Although legal barriers are now removed, opponents say they can still try to block access to the road that leads up to the 4200-meter-high summit. "What other tools do we have, apart from having people arrested in large numbers?" asks Kealoha Pisciotta, founder of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, one of the main opposition organizations. In 2015, 1000 protesters gathered on the mountain, but "there are way, way more people involved now," she says. The astronomers "may have won in the courts, but they haven't won the moral high ground."
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
Canary Islands Chosen as Backup Site for the Thirty-Meter Telescope
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 26 2019, @03:12PM (4 children)
Operate the telescope? Why not let the write up the astronomy papers?
Ethnic set-asides done proper!
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Wednesday June 26 2019, @03:18PM (3 children)
"Why not let the write up the astronomy papers?"
If they go through the PhD level education to have the qualifications, I'm all for it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by FatPhil on Wednesday June 26 2019, @10:59PM (2 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 26 2019, @11:55PM
There is no contention between 'sacred' and 'astrophysics'. They are orthogonal concepts. Although, many crazy religions, hello Abraham I'm looking at you, seem to add their own mythology to the sacred thus demeaning it to the physical world wherein begins the conflict.
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Thursday June 27 2019, @02:03PM
Example: Brother Guy Consolmagno is a Jesuit monk who is the head of the Vatican observatory. He's a serious scientist (astronomer) and finds no conflict between his belief and the science.
People who try to publish tripe don't get their papers accepted and quickly move to other pursuits. If you publish good work, it doesn't matter what you think on your own time.