Hawaiian Supreme Court Okays Controversial Planned Telescope

The Hawaiian Supreme Court rein that the Thirty Meter Telescope task can build on Mauna Kea , clearing the sound way for construction despite protests from the Native Hawaiian residential area .

Aswe’ve report , there ’s been a blistering battle between the 180 - understructure - tall scope ’s backers and a group of Native Hawaiians . In 2014 and 2015 , protester blocked building work party on their way up to the mountain . The Hawaiian Supreme Court thenrescinded structure permitso it could hear further opinions on the telescope . Another 2017 permission be , followed by another prayer from the oppositeness . The land ’s Supreme Court has once again side with the telescope .

The Thirty Meter Telescope would join two other planned exceedingly big telescopes ( that ’s a technical terminal figure for telescopes with mirror diameters of 20 to 100 meters , or 66 to 328 feet ) , and would be the only such scope in the Northern Hemisphere . The Giant Magellan Telescope and the European Extremely Large Telescope , are both plan for Chile . “ Thirty Meter ” refer to the telescope ’s 30 - meter- ( 98 - foot- ) diam mirror . Astronomers hope these telescopes will be capable to directly image rocky exoplanets around distant hotshot .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

Mauna Kea is sacred land for many Native Hawaiians , a place to connect with deities , bury the deadened , and learn to voyage . Though it currently host 13 other observatories , protesters thought the telescope would further desecrate the batch — in other wrangle , there ’s been enemy since scope ontogeny begin in the late sixties . There ’s also a 2004environmental impact assessmentthat found another scope project would have meaning negative cultural and environmental personal effects . Astronomers study Mauna Kea ’s 14,000 - foot meridian some of the best observing ground in the world , due to the thin atmosphere with low upheaval there that stops the sensation from twinkling .

One pollfrom 2016 found that keep for the telescope is part among autochthonal Hawaiians , with 46 percent for and 45 pct against .

After the previous legal roadblock , researchers find a backup location on the Canary Islands , which also host observatories . This would be a less desirable placement from an astronomy point of view , though the skill goals could still be achieved . The scope ’s planners have also attempted tominimize its visual impactand pay a yearly lease with money show to exert the mountain .

William Duplessie

The Hawaiian environmental group KAHEA put out astatementon Wednesday that it was disappointed by the court of justice conclusion , saying they feel that the country Supreme Court was incorrect in its assessment that there were no Hawaiian cultural practices at the specific spot where the telescope will be built . Though he previously consecrate to remove three of the heyday ’s telescopes in the 2020s , Governor David Ige issueda statementin financial support of the decision .

Should construction continue in Mauna Kea instead of the Canary Islands , the project will likely confront more protestors . KAHEA may now instead fight the renewal of the University of Hawaii ’s letting over the land , which expires in 2033,reports Nature .

You might think of this as a question of faith versus science , but that ’s believably the wrong manner to frame it — it ’s a sentiment that foreigner have decided they have the right hand to build on sacred Hawaiian res publica because it has thin atmosphere . Many mainland Americans would for certain fight the mental synthesis of a telescope at Gettysburg National Military Park , for example . As many scientific benefits as the scope would have , it ’s a head of whether we ’re okay with disrupting other the great unwashed ’s lives and culture in the name of technological advancement .

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