The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) derives its name from it’s planned thirty meter mirror.
The TMT has drawn criticism from Native Hawaiians because of it’s proposed placement on the mountain Mauna Kea on the big island, sacred land in Hawaiian culture. The mountain is already home to multiple other observatories; these are viewed as previous desecrations.
The telescope’s construction was initially approved by Hawaii’s Board of Land and Natural Resources in 2014 but construction was put on hold until October 2018 by the Supreme Court of Hawaii. Construction was set to begin July 15th2019 but protestors blocked access to the mountain.
Protests continue into August, causing the delayed project to look to Spain as an alternative.
If built, it would be the world’s second largest, behind the Extremely Large Telescope under construction in Chile (astronomers must be too busy studying the stars to come up with creative names). These telescopes are being built with hopes of finding earth-like planets around other stars.
