Significantly predating the current observatories, there is evidence of active astronomy on Mauna Kea in the 1901 Land Office Map of the Island of Hawaii showing the "Hawaii Astronomy Station" near the Mauna Kea summit. After studying photos for
NASA's
Apollo program that contained greater detail than any ground-based telescope,
Gerard Kuiper began seeking an arid site for infrared studies. While he first began looking in Chile, he also made the decision to perform tests in the Hawaiian Islands. Tests on
Maui's
Haleakalā were promising, but the mountain was too low in the inversion layer and often covered by clouds. On the "Big Island" of Hawaiʻi, Mauna Kea is considered the
second-highest island mountain in the world. While the summit is often covered with snow, the air is extremely dry. The peak was the second highest on the mountain, with the highest peak being holy ground, so Kuiper avoided it. Next, Kuiper tried enlisting NASA to fund a larger facility with a large telescope, housing and other needed structures. NASA, in turn, decided to make the project open to competition. Professor of physics, John Jefferies of the
University of Hawaii, placed a bid on behalf of the university. Jefferies had gained his reputation through observations at
Sacramento Peak Observatory. The proposal was for a two-meter telescope to serve both the needs of NASA and the university. While large telescopes are not ordinarily awarded to universities without well-established astronomers, Jefferies and UH were awarded the NASA contract, infuriating Kuiper, who felt that "his mountain" had been "stolen" from
him. Kuiper would abandon his site (the very first telescope on Mauna Kea) over the competition and begin work in Arizona on a different NASA project. After considerable testing by Jefferies' team, the best locations were determined to be near the summit of the cinder cones. Testing also determined Mauna Kea to be superb for nighttime viewing due to many factors, including the thin air, constant trade winds and being surrounded by the sea. Jefferies would build a 2.24-meter telescope with the State of Hawaiʻi agreeing to build a reliable, all-weather roadway to the summit. Building began in 1967, and first light was seen in 1970. Other groups began requesting subleases on the newly accessible mountaintop. By 1970, two telescopes had been constructed by the
United States Air Force and
Lowell Observatory. In 1973, Canada and France agreed to build the 3.6 m
CFHT on Mauna Kea. However, local organizations started to raise concerns about the environmental impact of the observatory. This led the Department of Land and Natural Resources to prepare an initial management plan, drafted in 1977 and supplemented in 1980. In January 1982, the University of Hawaiʻi
Board of Regents approved a plan to support the continued development of scientific facilities at the site. designated for astronomy, and shifted the remaining to "natural and cultural preservation". This plan was further revised to address concerns expressed in the Hawaiian community that a lack of respect was being shown toward the cultural value the mountain embodied to the region's indigenous people. , the Mauna Kea Science Reserve has 13 observation facilities, each funded by as many as 11 countries. It is one of the world's premier observatories for optical, infrared, and submillimeter astronomy, In 2009 was the largest measured by light gathering power. There are nine telescopes working in the visible and infrared spectrum, three in the submillimeter spectrum, and one in the radio spectrum, with mirrors or dishes ranging from .
Controversies Planned new telescopes, including the
Thirty Meter Telescope, have attracted controversy due to their potential cultural and ecological impact. The multi-telescope "outrigger" extension to the
Keck telescopes, which required new sites, was eventually cancelled. Three or four of the mountain's 13 existing telescopes must be dismantled over the next decade, with the
TMT proposal to be the last area on Mauna Kea on which any telescope would ever be built. With all the controversy, the building of telescopes has led to the creation of the Hawaii Night Sky Protection Act. As artificial light forms a light cloud above the land, the excess light disrupts the clear pictures taken by the telescopes. On July 1, 2013, the Hawaii Night Sky Protection Act was initiated, affecting both the Big Island and Maui. A large difference between the Hawaiian islands and the mainland United States can be observed: street lighting. Almost all streets are dark as the lamps have either not been built, have been removed, or have been dimmed.
Scientific discoveries The Mauna Kea Observatories involve thirteen large telescopes. In 2003, scientists discovered
(612584) 2003 QX113 with the Canada–France Ecliptic Plane Survey.In November 2020, in collaboration with Europe's low-frequency ARray radio telescope, Mauna Kea's Gemini observatory and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (NITF), discovered the first Super-Planet. In October 2011, the
Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to
Saul Perlmutter,
Brian P. Schmidt, and
Adam G. Riess; the prize recognized their findings, based on research on supernovae at the observatories, that dark energy is a force causing the universe
to expand at an accelerating rate. ==Management==