October 29, 2004

Driving Into the Sky

By Richard Monastersky

The route to the summit of Mauna Kea starts in the balmy, coconut-grove tropics but ends up in a desolate arctic landscape, with views so vast of the surrounding ocean that they inspired ancient Hawaiians to traverse the Pacific. On a clear day, the island of Maui seems a step away, and Polynesia beckons way beyond the horizon to the southeast. In open canoes, the early inhabitants of this island set off across that void, never knowing what they would find. Modern astronomers have followed in