The University of Hawaii at Hilo will host an open house tonight to present information about the university’s proposed educational telescope at Halepohaku.
The planned development would include a 28-inch telescope housed within a 14-foot-high dome on a platform connected to an existing building at Halepohaku, the midlevel facility on Maunakea.
A draft environmental assessment published in September anticipated a finding of no significant environmental impact for the project.
The telescope would replace UH’s Hoku Ke‘a observatory on Maunakea summit, which is scheduled for decommissioning as part of the terms for the planned construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope. Hoku Ke‘a has also been unused since 2010, leaving UH students without a usable educational telescope.
The open house will include discussions about the draft EA and possible future educational programs, presentations by UH-Hilo astronomy faculty, and an opportunity to see the telescope itself.
The event will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the UH-Hilo Science and Technology Building.