Former telescope to be removed from Hawaiian mountain

The University of Hawaii has announced the third Mauna Kea observatory that will be decommissioned, fulfilling the governor's request to remove 25 percent of the telescopes from the mountain.

Amid protests against building a giant $1.4 billion telescope near the summit of the mountain, Gov. David Ige in May outlined a plan for improved stewardship of Mauna Kea, which many Native Hawaiians consider sacred.

Ige said 25 percent of the 13 telescopes already on the mountain need to come down before the Thirty Meter Telescope is ready for operation.

The university on Wednesday said the third one marked for decommissioning will be the UKIRT Observatory, formerly known as the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope. The decommissioning process is underway for the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory and the Hoku Kea telescope.

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