A New Environmental Monitoring System For The UH88” Telescope

The primary purpose of an environmental monitoring system, or a weather station, located at an astronomical observatory is to provide accurate weather measurements of the current conditions. The data helps to determine if the conditions are not only safe, but suitable for observing the night sky as well. In June of 2011, the weather station located at the UH88” telescope in the Institute for Astronomy building on Mauna Kea, Hawaii was destroyed by lightning. The aim of this project was to install a new weather station in an optimal location near the UH88” telescope on Mauna Kea. We used the Vaisala weather transmitter WXT520 to measure and record weather parameters at three different locations around the outside of the UH88” telescope. The recorded weather parameters were then compared with the data collected from other weather stations in the vicinity. From those results we were able to determine that the placement of the weather station in relation to the building is crucial in order to attain accurate weather data. We concluded that the best location for the Vaisala weather transmitter WXT520 is on the top of the UH88” telescope dome. In the near future, the observatory plans to improve on the default software which collects the weather data. This improvement will provide greater control of weather parameters and warnings relating to the safety of the telescope prior to severe weather.