The Subaru Telescope Observation Room

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Shannon follows Mike and Constantine into the enormous dome that is the Subaru telescope. They go up an elevator, past a little room with a fridge and coffee and into the observation room full of equipment and monitors. The camera shutter makes a noise as it opens and closes. When the picture is successfully taken and the data is collected it coocos like a bird.

Something strange is going on at the outer reaches of the solar system. One astronomer thinks it might be a Neptune-sized ninth planet, and he’s on a quest to find it.

That search is happening at an enormous telescope on the summit of Maunakea, a dormant Hawaiian volcano with a long astronomical and cultural history. But many Native Hawaiian scientists are asking: What’s lost in the pursuit of larger and larger telescopes?

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