| So far, "Subaru This Month" has featured Subaru's
seven primary instruments ("COMICS",
"FOCAS", "CIAO",
"OHS/CISCO", "IRCS",
"Suprime-Cam", "HDS")
and the cleaning of Subaru's primary
mirror. This month, we look at the Island of Hawaii, the town
of Hilo, and the base facility of Subaru Telescope.
The Hawaiian Islands are about four thousand kilometers southwest
of the continental United States, and about six thousand kilometers
from Japan. Hawaii is made up of 8 large islands and approximately
130 small islands, reefs and shoals. The city of Honolulu and
nearby Waikiki Beach are on the Island of Oahu, which is home
to three-quarters of the state's population of 1.2 million. Traveling
from Honolulu, it takes about one hour by plane to reach the easternmost
island in the chain, the Island of Hawaii. Hawaii Island is also
known as the "Big Island" because it is the largest
of the Hawaiian Islands, more than twice the size of all the other
islands combined.
Located on the east coast of the Big Island is the town of Hilo,
with a population of approximately 40,000. The mean annual rainfall
for Hilo is 3,300mm. This is more than three times that of New
York City. Therefore, there are sayings here such as "Don't
forget an umbrella even if you forget a box lunch!" Subaru
Telescope's base facility is located just below Komohana Street
on the west side of Hilo (Komohana means "West" in Hawaiian).
Subaru's neighbors in the University Park of the University of
Hawaii at Hilo are: Caltech
Submillimeter Observatory (CSO); Gemini
Observatory; Joint
Astronomy Center (JAC) and the
University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy (IfA). Two other
observatories, the Canada-France-Hawaii
Observatory and the
W. M. Keck Observatory, have their headquarters in Waimea,
approximately an hour's drive northwest of Hilo.
The Hawaiian islands are volcanic in origin, and the Big Island
was formed from five separate volcanoes, including Mauna Loa;
Mauna Kea, which is home to the telescopes; and Kilauea, which
has been active since 1983, adding 205 hectares to the southeast
coast in that time. Hilo lies on the Mauna Loa volcanic shield
and is on a gradual but steady slope, so that the facilities are
high above most of the town and on a clear day provide views of
Hilo Bay and the whole town.
Approximately 60 regular staff members work at the Subaru Telescope
base facility. Since instrument team members also stay here temporarily
while conducting test observations, the total number averages
70.
Princess Sayako visited the base facility in September 1999 when
we had the dedication ceremony for Subaru Telescope. She planted
a "Kukui" tree, the State tree of Hawaii. A monument
was set up beside the tree to commemorate the occasion.
The Subaru Telescope itself is located at the summit of Mauna
Kea, about a two hour drive from the base facility. In December
of this year, Subaru will begin its Open Use operation and the
base and summit facilities will be alive with astronomers from
all around the world.
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