Talk:Mauna Kea Observatory

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are scientists really required to stay at a lower elevation for a day? i drove up to the top without such a wait, but only for a short visit. a half hour wait at ~9000ft was recommended by rangers.

I also visited on a day trip, and had the stop over for an hour on the way up, no longer. Could it be different for those planning to stay at high altitiude longer? MartinRe 21:31, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

Updated it to say half an hour, as have verified that is what is officially suggested. The same board that states this, also says that those under 16, pregnant women, and those with heart problems or in poor shape shouldn't go up. Is that also worth noting, or it thst more for a general altitude article? MartinRe 12:33, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Altitude and acclimatization

Hi guys,

I work on Mauna Kea, and in most cases, observers will spend a night at Hale Pohaku (9300') before spending however many nights on the summit (with the days in between spent sleeping at Hale Pohaku).

Most of the larger observatories provide similar acclimatization nights (spent either entirely at HP, or half there and half on the summit) for their operators.

Operators at smaller observatories (like the one where I work), as well as certain support people, will often get only 30-120 minutes of acclimatization at HP before working a night on the summit, but these represent a minority of the people working on the summit.

I'd be happy to help work out some good wording on this... and I'll also check over the article as a whole for any missing or incorrect info.

Aloha! :) Dan 11:51, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Historical note: Alika Herring

I seem to remember reading in Sky and Telescope about the discovery of Mauna Kea as an observing site. The story as I remember it was:-

A famously skilled optician named Alika Herring discovered the seeing on Mauna Kea was superb and wrote to a number of astonomers about it. Only one replied, Gerard P Kuiper. Kuiper being important, things happened.

It might be nice if someone added an accurate historical section in the main article. Man with two legs 17:04, 20 April 2006 (UTC)