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On Top of the World

HAWAII, Sep 11 - When a longtime Japanese friend of mine, a senior executive with Fujitsu in Tokyo, found out that I was on the Big Island in Hawaii, he offered to arrange for me a visit to the Japanese telescope atop Mount Kea (the tallest mountain in the world, as you might recall from Chapter 5).  The telescope named "Subaru," which stands for "star" in Japanese, is powered by two Fujitsu supercomputers.  So the company has its own people on site.  I gladly accepted.

After an arduous 2.5 hour drive (due to construction) that covered less than 100 miles from my hotel on the west coast to Hilo on the eastern shoreline (see above map), I met Nishida-san, the Fujitsu site engineer, at the Astronomy Center of the University of Hawaii in Hilo.  He was to be my guide for the day.  From there, we traveled in his Ford F150 truck to and up Mount Kea.  "We need a four-wheel drive to get there," he said about the 40-mile drive.

At one point along the way, Nishida-san stopped his truck suddenly and backed it up a few yards.  He was staring intently through the passenger window at something up the hill.

 "What is it?" I asked.

"It's this plant," he said.  He gave me the name but I did not remember it.  The plant looked like a small cactus and had yellow flowers.  "It's lifecycle is 13 years.  I've been here four years.  I have never seen it bloom before.  Until now.  You are very lucky to see it."

A little while later, during a mandatory half-hour break at the 9,000 foot level, we took some pictures of the plant and of ourselves (above).

Why a mandatory half-hour break?

"So the body would adjust gradually to high altitude," Nishida-san explained.  "Otherwise, one might get lightheaded or faint when we get to the top of the mountain."

He was very meticulous about that 30-minute stopover.  After about 20 minutes, I was getting both cold and bored (the temperature was 52F at this point).  But Nishida-san insisted we wait out the 30 minutes before proceeding our goat-like climb through the clouds to the top of the tallest mountain in the world (32,000 feet, measured from the ocean floor).

The two left photos are views of Subaru as we approached it, a $400 million-telescope financed by the Japanese government.  The construction of the telescope site started in 1991.  Subaru became operational in 1999.  It took seven years just to build its giant lens, the largest and the most powerful telescope in the world. 

The heart of the telescope is a giant 27-foot (diameter) mirror supported by a bed of 261 computer-controlled actuators (leftmost photo is a model of the telescope).  The 23-ton mirror is carried by a 500-ton telescope structure (middle left at the bottom; middle right at the top).  The yellow machinery on the right is a giant infrared camera and spectrograph that records and digitizes the images Subaru gathers.

As for the round yellow mechanism on the left, these are the "ball bearings" (runners) that are used for rotating the 500-ton telescope.

Japan's Subaru is credited with discovery of the remotest galaxy known to man, "at the end of the universe," according to a young man with excellent English who acted as our Subaru guide.

"How do you know it's the end of the universe?" I asked.  Not being an astronomer or anything close to it, I was just wondering out loud.  I did not expect a quick concession.

"You have every reason to be a skeptic," he said.  "If Albert Einstein can be wrong, then anything is possible.  That about the end of the universe is just what I've been told by astronomers."

He also added that the entire project has no economic value to Japan.  It's discoveries may only have some value to mankind's future generations.  "It's basically a $400 million-toy that only rich nations can afford," he added.  Indeed, the 13 telescopes on top of Mauna Kea are funded by the U.S. government, academic institutions, or some other wealthy G-8 nation.

Meanwhile, the views from the "top of the world" were nothing short of spectacular.  Even if a hand-held camera can't do them justice [they wouldn't let me use the 2-ton one inside the telescope... :-)  ], you can still get an appreciation of the vast expanses that lie ahead.  The 10,000-foot Haleakala volcano on Maui, for example, looks like a midget from up here (left two photos; middle left is a zoomed image).

As for the Pacific ocean to the north, you can't really tell where it ends and where the sky begins (two right images).  This picture could be a visual depiction of infinity.

Turning around and looking south, you can see the summit of Mauna Loa, a slightly shorter mountain than Mauna Kea (two left photos).  As we took a cat walk outside the telescope, my host took a picture of yours truly wearing a hardhat, mandatory dress code for all humans on site.  You may also notice an extra coat that Nishida-san also provided.  The outside temperature at this point was 42F.  But inside the telescope, it was even colder, as they maintain the same internal and external nighttime temperature to minimize any distortions.  BRRRR.... I could wait to get out and into the "warm" and sunny 42F. :-)

On your left, you can see some other telescopes atop Mauna Kea.  The one farthest to the right in that left image, is the second generation University of Hawaii telescope.  The first telescope up here, build in 1968 by the University of Hawaii is that little guy in the second image.  It's about half the size of that small second generation telescope, but being a close-up, the photo makes it appear much bigger than it is.  As for the other two giants in the right photo, they appear as enormous as they actually are (take a look at the cars and human figures in front).

Finally, a view of the summit of Mauna Kea, the "top of the world."  And then it was time to head back.  Just as we started our descent from the summit, I noticed a group of Japanese tourists getting out of one of those minibuses.  "Funny, they seem to be all young women," I told my host.  "They are probably here for the sunset," he replied.  I took it to mean that romantic sunsets are of more appeal to women.

On our way down the mountain, we drove through some pretty thick fog, as we did on the way up.  How thick?  Take a look.  This time I took some pictures of it (two left photos).  We also caught some glimpses of the valley below through the cloud breaks (middle right).  And on our way back to Hilo, there was a stretch of the road through the black lava with rich vegetation on top that made me think that that's really when a "black forest" looks like (unlike the famous one in Germany - "Schwarzwald").

Hilo: A Charming Town

Before heading back to my hotel, I drove through Hilo and took some pictures of this charming town.

Right on the waterfront, there is a pretty park with a name longer than the width of these giant trees (left photo).  The banyan tree on the right has got to be one of the largest I have ever seen.

The water front is also very beautiful in this area, as you can see from the above photos.

I found the scene of this young girl playing her guitar on the shore while awaiting the sunset found rather idyllic.

I have been told that Hilo is an economically depressed town because the sugarcane plantations, that had been its mainstay and lifeblood for decades, are now closed (because of cheaper competition from the Philippines).  And also because it is rainy here.  Indeed, it does rain a lot here.  Average annual rainfall is 130 inches (up to 200 inches upslope).  But I didn't see it.  What I saw on my two visits is a charming old town in a beautiful sunny setting, by far the prettiest urban settlement on the Big Island.  If the town is indeed "nearly bankrupt" and the property values are dropping, to me, that would suggest a buying opportunity.  Donald Trump seems to agree.  He has reportedly bought a big spread here up the mountain from Hilo.

On my way back, I took a short detour through a neighborhood nestled in a rain forest (left two photos).  It is from there that I also caught a glimpse of the "Pride of America" cruise ship docked in the Hilo harbor (right two photos, the rightmost being a zoomed image).  Perhaps you remember that we also saw this ship from the helicopter?

As the sun was setting I also caught this lovely scene at one of many bays around Hilo (leftmost image).  Some 40 miles later, I was approaching Waimea (see the map at the top of the page), when the clouds suddenly lifted, revealing the top of Mauna Kea and all the telescopes basking in setting sunshine (two middle shots).  It was the first time I have been able to see the mountain from down there.  It was as if God lifted the curtain for one final look of the day at the "top of the world." 

Once again, the camera shots don't do the view justice.  That's why I also included above a close up of the same telescopes taken earlier in the day, adjusted for the sunset glow.

What was rather idyllic, though, was the pasture in front of me (middle left).  At the same time as billions of dollars of high tech equipment was basking in the orange glow of the setting sun on the mountaintop, cows and horses are peacefully grazing in the field in front of me.  Quite a contrast, I thought, and an apt finish to my report from the "top of the world."

Epilogue: A Tokyo Encounter

After I had finished my travelogue, a little before midnight, I walked down to the beach to take a spa.  I found two Japanese ladies already soaking in the Jacuzzi.  "Where are you from, Sir?" one of them asked me boldly.  And we started a conversation.  It turns out they were from Tokyo, and here only for three nights.  They looked like sisters, but actually the slightly smaller one was the daughter of the other lady, a freshman at the University of Tokyo.  That I thought they were sisters was a compliment to her Mom's youthful looks.

I started to tell them about my today's excursion to the top of Mauna Kea with the help of Japanese guides. 

"That's where we were today, too?" the mother said.

"Really?  All the way up to the telescopes?"

"Uh-huh.  We went up there to see the sunset."

"And did you ride in a white minibus?" I asked.

"How did you know?"

A small world...

To be continued... CLICK HERE to go to CHAPTER 7...

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