Over spring break seven Moorpark students, along with two part-time faculty members, will be accompanying Professor Farisa Morales to the Keck Observatory on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

The Keck Observatory sits 13,600 feet above sea level and is home to the two largest and most scientifically productive telescopes on earth, according to keckobservatory.org.

“The students will have the opportunity not only to see one of the largest telescopes on planet earth, but also get to use it,” Morales said. “This will give them a first look at how astrophysicists work while collecting data and access to state of the art technology available in the field.”

The trip is not part of any specific course, but is designed to complement the astronomy and physics course work of the students, according to Morales.

The twin Keck telescopes are the world’s largest optical and infrared telescopes. Each telescope stands eight stories tall, weighs 300 tons and operates with nanometer precision, according to keckobservatory.org

Mauna Kea is a dormant volcano topped with an array of telescopes on the big island of Hawaii. The summit is close to 14,000 feet in elevation, half the cruising altitude of airplanes, and has 40 percent as much oxygen as at sea level, according to Morales.

During their trip they will be live tweeting their experiences, using #MCCPlanetHunt, March 19 to March 22. You can follow those tweets on Morales’ twitter account @FarisaMorales, or on our twitter account @Student_Voice.