After much work, coordination, and patience, the summit of Haleakala has been reenergized since the fire forced them to cut power. It’s always nice to reconnect and find healthy instruments, ready to do science!
The bad news is we won’t be doing any observing tonight, given the weather. Oh well.
At least it’s a beautiful night at RFO!
Exciting news for LaserSETI! Two new LaserSETI stations will be installed this weekend in Sedona, Arizona. Although the current installations in California and Hawai’i observe almost 20% of the sky at one time, that will go up dramatically with the new observatory. You can see here how the LaserSETI team has been hard at work getting ready for the install.
The team’s mascot, Stormy, obviously helping with the preparations.
Part of the team getting ready for the shipment to Sedona.
Preparing the new LaserSETI stations!
We lost power to the summit of Haleakala at approximately 9am Pacific, when Maui Fire Dept requested de-energization to prevent further ignitions and risk to personnel. They’re currently projecting power to remain off through Saturday night.
Thus far, no injuries and structural damages were due to the fire, which is located at around the 7,000-foot elevation level. Four engines, three wildland engines, 11 tankers, five dozers, two helicopters, an Maui Fire Department crew and a 27-person state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife’s wildland crew were utilized to battle the fire on Thursday. Crater Road remained closed at last report. The Summit District of Haleakalā National Park remains closed until further notice.
We thank all those involved in protecting life and property, as well as observatory efforts to work with first responders and get us back online as soon as possible.
For more information, please see Maui Now or other news sources.