Mauna Kea: Hawai island is expected to get one more astronomical observatory, the Thirty Meter Telescope in Mauna Kea to explore the fundamental questions about the universe. But the telescope is a decade away from being built and native Hawaiian protesters are trying to stop the construction claiming it will defile a place they consider sacred.
Two weeks back 2,000 people joined the protest camp. Actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson visited the protesters last week to declare that he stood with them.
The telescope is expected to allow astronomers to peer back some 13 billion years in time to shortly after the Big Bang. It's expected to help astronomers in determining whether life exists on planets outside the solar system and better understanding of fundamental concepts like gravity.
Mauna Kea has the best conditions for viewing the night sky in the Northern Hemisphere.
At nearly 14,000 feet, its peak is normally above the clouds. Being surrounded by the ocean means air flows tend to be smoother and it has the driest atmosphere of any of the other sites.
The large size of the telescope's mirror means it would collect more light, allowing it to see far-away objects such as stars and galaxies dating back as long as 13 billion years.
The telescope gets its name from the size of the mirror, which will be 30 meters (98 feet) in diameter. That's three times as wide as the world's largest existing visible-light telescope.
The telescope would be more than 200 times sensitive than current telescopes and able to resolve objects 12 times better than the Hubble Space Telescope.
Head of operations for the telescope, Christophe Dumas said, "TMT is 30 meters in diameter. That's the diameter of the primary mirror. That's not the only mirror. There is a second mirror and a tertiary mirror. And actually, the primary mirror itself is made of many mirrors, 482 of them."
Two other giant telescopes are being built in Chile, which also has excellent conditions for astronomy.
The European Extremely Large Telescope will have a primary mirror measuring 39 meters, or 128 feet, in diameter. The Giant Magellan Telescope's mirror will be 24.5 meters, or 80 feet, in diameter.
The Thirty Meter Telescope is the only one expected to be built in the Northern Hemisphere. Because different spots on Earth look out on different parts of the sky, the next-generation ground telescopes will ensure scientists can see the entire universe.
The Supreme Court has given the green light to the project that would put one of the world's most powerful telescopes at Mauna Kea.
Universities and national observatories behind the TMT have selected Spain's Canary Islands as a backup site in case they are unable to build in Hawaii.
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