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I've had the opportunity to go up to the summit of
Mauna Kea three times now. The first time I went up with Mike, and it was
foggy. The second time I went up with Mike, and we got pummelled by a
thunderstorm. The third time I didn't go up with Mike, and the
weather was spectacular. Pattern? I think so. Mike went up by himself,
and the weather was great. I think the lesson here is to not let Brad and
Mike go up together.
 Like I
said before, I work at UKIRT, the world's largest telescope designed
solely for infrared observations. UKIRT is one of about 12 telescopes at
the summit of Mauna Kea, the most famous of which are the twin Keck
telescopes. Also up there is the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, a couple
telescopes owned by the University of Hawaii, the Caltech Submillimeter
Observatory, JCMT, and NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility. In
construction are the Subaru and Gemini telescopes.
 Being at the
observatories on top of Mauna Kea is an experience I'll never forget. You
have to spend some time at Hale Pohaku, a ski resort-type place for
astronomers so they can acclimatise to the altitude. HP is at about 9300
feet on the side of Mauna Kea. It's pretty cool, but it can get rather
boring rather quickly. Once you've acclimatised it's up the mountain you
go! A short (about 45 minute) 4x4 drive up the mountain, and there you
are. The first thing you see (on a clear day) is the Mauna Kea
 installation of the Very Long Baseline Array, off down in a valley. Then
it's on to the main group, with JCMT and CSO in "Submillimeter Valley" and
Subaru and the Kecks up on
the ridge. Then around a corner, up more hill, and there's UKIRT, the UH
88-inch, Gemini, and CFHT. The telescopes aren't at the true summit,
however, that's off a few hundred feet behind UKIRT. Sunrise and sunset
at the summit are just spectacular. At sunrise the orange glow is
reflected off the domes of the Kecks, creating a wonderful picture. If
you catch it right you can watch the shadow of Mauna Kea grow lower and
lower in the sky.
 And yes,
another
shameless attempt to put up an intrepid group photo.
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