Sky and Telescope - August 2018 - 66

Hawaiian Adventure

HALEAKALA DOMES Haleakala- High Altitude Observatory Site
is the oldest astronomical facility on the island archipelago. It
includes the 3.67-meter Advanced Electro-Optical System telescope at left, the 1.8-meter Pan-STARRS telescopes, and the
U.S. Air Force Maui Space Surveillance Site facilities at right.

Gearing Up
For my Haleakala¯ imaging adventure, I brought along a
Software Bisque Paramount MyT and a Sky-Watcher Esprit
80-mm f/5 ED Triplet APO refractor equipped with a Starlight
Xpress Trius-694 monochrome
CCD camera. While I shipped the
mount for the conference I was
attending representing Software
Bisque (bisque.com), I managed
to squeeze the telescope, camera,

t DOMESTIC POWER Airlines limit
the size of batteries that are allowed on
flights, so a good alternative was to purchase a deep-cycle marine battery and
DC-to-AC inverter.

AUGUST 2 018 * SK Y & TELESCOPE

mini-computer, and a few additional accessories into my
carry-on luggage for the long ﬂight from Orlando to Maui.
The only wrinkle I encountered with getting my equipment to the island was my custom power supply. It turns out
that there is a strict limit to the size of batteries that UPS will
allow you to ship air freight. After a long conversation with
the folks at the UPS Store, I quickly formulated "Plan B." The
alternative was to purchase a good DC-to-AC inverter, bring
along the wall-wart power adapters for both the mount and
camera, and also pick up a deep-cycle marine battery at the
local Walmart on Maui. This ended up costing me just shy of
$100, but in short order I had the battery charging up in my
room on the day before my big excursion. In fact, this solution turned out to be quite a bit cheaper than it would have
been to ship my batteries in the ﬁrst place. The only downside
was having to dispose of the battery before returning to the
mainland (I did manage to ﬁnd someone who could use it).
So with everything ready, I headed out to the summit in
the early afternoon. The drive up the mountain itself is on
a short, winding road that takes roughly 30 minutes once
you enter the park. The road is narrow and there are many
unguarded switchbacks, so be sure to remain alert, especially
if arriving after sundown.

Darkness Descends
I arrived at the topmost parking lot in late afternoon with
plenty of time to set up, and it was a good thing, too. The
thin air at 10,000 feet will take the wind out of your sails a
little bit, so be prepared to take extra time setting up. As I ﬁnished assembling my gear, the Sun was setting, and I noticed
two other things as well. It was getting noticeably colder by
the minute, and the parking lot was becoming extremely
crowded. Where were all these people coming from?
It turns out this highest parking lot on Haleakala¯, with the
observatory domes silhouetted against the fading sunlight,
is the best spot to watch the Sun as it dips below the western horizon. Looking down from the ridge here in the west,
you can see the Paciﬁc Ocean and the micro-metropolis of

LE A F TE X T URE: A NDRE A _ HILL / G E T T Y IM AG ES

below the summit, at 9,740 feet, is the Haleakala¯ Visitor
Center, with a large parking lot. While the visitor center
facilities are closed at night, there are walking paths that
offer spectacular views of the summit crater during daylight
hours. On both of my visits the park was quite busy.
A little farther up from the main visitor center is a smaller
parking lot near the true summit of the mountain. Here you'll
ﬁnd yourself high above the cloud deck on terrain that looks
and feels like an alien landscape. The vista will take your
breath away. Facing southeast on a clear day you can see the
Big Island of Hawai'i, and those with keen eyesight (or binoculars) can make out the largest observatory domes on the
summit of Mauna Kea. I could just see the glint of the buildings without optical aid, but with a 200-mm lens the site was
plainly visible through the viewﬁnder of my camera.
A word of caution: The climate at the summit of Haleakala¯ is very different than it is at sea level. It is often 50°F
colder - or more - compared to the tropical beaches below,
so plan to dress appropriately! I should have known better
and was pretty uncomfortable later at night in my shortsleeved shirt and light jacket.

http://www.bisque.com

Sky and Telescope - August 2018

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