![]() The Observatory twin 10-meter Keck Observatory telescopes are not part of the Haleakala National Park system, and if you do obtain an appointment, leave your car in the haleakala car park as the road up to the Observatory is cinder and only accessible to 4x4 vehicles in good weather.Įarly mornings and late evenings we recommend that you bring a sweater or in winter a coat as it does get cold and windy at this high altitude, also if you are going to stargaze, something to sit would also be nice. ![]() This is expected to take place by January of 2022.Haleakalā High Altitude Observatory Site, on mount Haleakalā is only open to the public by appointment only, it's Hawaii's first astronomical research observatory. Next steps for LaserSETI at Haleakala will include replacing two of the cameras to bring the system to full functionality. When this phase is complete, the system will be able to monitor the nighttime sky in roughly half of the western hemisphere. The plan calls for ten more instruments deployed in Puerto Rico, the Canary Islands, and Chile. Initial funding for LaserSETI was raised through a crowdfunding campaign in 2017, with additional financing provided through private donations. And because the devices are wide-angle, it's possible to cover the entire night sky with a relatively small number of them, thereby keeping costs down. Able to distinguish different colors of light, LaserSETI instrumentation is not limited to extremely short flashes as conventional SETI searches have been. ![]() While stars will produce a complete spectrum from blue to red, a laser will only show up at its characteristic wavelength (think of your red laser pointer). In front of the lens is a grating that transforms any light source in the camera's field-of-view into a double rainbow-like spectrum. LaserSETI uses two cameras with a commercial lenses that images approximately 75 degrees of the sky onto off-the-shelf solid-state detectors. Traditionally optical SETI projects have relied on photomultiplier tubes to detect laser flashes, essentially making them one-pixel cameral and enabling only a small part of the sky to be observed. It is exciting to add a new direction to this investigation by searching for technological signatures." "UH has had a long involvement in Astrobiology to explore the possibility of life elsewhere-both through research related to formation of habitable worlds, discovery of exoplanets, and the development of new innovative mirror and telescope technology to detect planets. "The possibility that life exists elsewhere is exciting for the public, especially with the reports of biologically interesting molecules in the atmosphere of Venus, the selection of two Venus missions by NASA, the Mars Perseverance rover mission, and the upcoming Europa Clipper mission to explore Jupiter's moon," said Karen Meech, IfA interim director. From the project team to other scientists at the SETI Institute, to our Indiegogo backers and private donors, to our outstanding observatory partners at Institute for Astronomy and Ferguson Observatory, it takes a village to tackle a project this audacious." "There are so many people who've helped make LaserSETI possible that I'd like to thank. When you don't know where to look, an instrument with an enormous field-of-view and time range allows us to cover a lot more ground than ever before." said Eliot Gillum, principal investigator for LaserSETI. It's the first project in either optical or radio astronomy designed to cover the entire sky. "LaserSETI is attempting a big step forward in SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. ![]() The two observatories will provide redundant coverage of the sky over the Pacific because, as Carl Sagan said, "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." Cameras at the new site in Hawai'i will be aimed east, and the California devices are be aimed west. ![]() The first LaserSETI observatory is at the Robert Ferguson Observatory in Sonoma, CA. They work by using a transmission grating to split light sources up into spectra, then read the camera out more than a thousand times per second. Each LaserSETI device consists of two identical cameras rotated 90 degrees to one another along the viewing axis. It is building a global network of instruments to monitor the entire night sky. LaserSETI is a unique astronomy program designed to detect potential laser pulses originating from outside the solar system. ![]()
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