The broad-shouldered summit of Mauna Kea holds many meanings for many people: For astronomers, it’s a high-altitude playground of stars, among the best places on Earth to explore the firmament with minimal atmospheric distortion. For environmentalists, it’s a “sky island ecosystem” that hosts rare and altitude-sensitive species, including the wekiu bug found nowhere else in the world. For Hawaiian spiritual practitioners, it is the home of gods, the most holy place on Hawaii’s big island.
As vast as its expanses of ice and lava are, Mauna Kea has not proved sizable enough to accommodate the desires of all three groups. The dormant volcano has become a battleground between astronomers, who have placed 13 telescopes at its summit and now wish to build one more, and Hawaiian cultural and environmental activists who believe the stargazing science has already had too much impact on the 4,205-meter-high mountain.
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