Mauna Loa Observatory at 3,397 m (11,150 ft).

Research observatory · Mauna Loa, Hawaii

Mauna Loa Observatory

Mauna Loa Observatory is a research observatory in Mauna Loa, Hawaii.

Mauna Loa Observatory in brief

Open to the public
No regular public access
Elevation
3,397 m (11,150 ft)
Bortle class
Not yet rated

Official site

Can you visit Mauna Loa Observatory? No regular public access

No public site access.

For telescope views near Mauna Loa Observatory, see the observatories open to the public and astronomy clubs nearby; clubs hold free public star parties.

Mauna Loa Observatory
Mauna Loa Observatory

What Mauna Loa Observatory observes

NOAA atmospheric research

How dark the sky is at Mauna Loa Observatory

Mauna Loa Observatory has no Bortle rating in the list yet. The scale below shows what each class looks like.

1 mag 8.0 21.99+ 2 mag 7.5 21.89+ 3 mag 7.0 21.69+ 4 mag 6.5 20.49+ 5 mag 6.0 19.50+ 6 mag 5.5 18.94+ 7 mag 5.0 18.38+ 8 mag 4.5 18.00+ 9 mag 4.0
The Bortle scale. Each panel shows the class number, the faintest star the naked eye reaches at the zenith, and the darkest-edge sky brightness reading of that class in mag/arcsec².

Sky brightness and class come from the World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness (Falchi et al. 2016, CC BY-NC 4.0), with natural skyglow added, at the coordinates below. Research telescopes are often sited on mountains above the haze, so the real sky can be darker than the map suggests.

Mauna Loa Observatory among the observatories of Hawaii

Ha'ena State Park Haleakala National Park Hanauma Bay Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Kalahaku Overlook Kau Forest Reserve Kaumahina State Wayside Koke'e State Park Manuka State Wayside Mauna Kea Na Pali-Kona Forest Reserve Pala'au State Park Polihale State Park Polipoli Spring State Recreation Area Pua'a Ka'a State Wayside Wai'anapanapa State Park Wailua Valley State Wayside Waimea Canyon State Park Leeward College Observatory KEASA Observatory Gemini North Observatory Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Subaru Telescope James Clerk Maxwell Telescope NASA Infrared Telescope Submillimeter Array Very Long Baseline Array - Mauna Kea Station UH 2.2m Telescope Thirty Meter Telescope (proposed) Pan-STARRS Faulkes Telescope North (LCO 2m) Inouye Solar Telescope Advanced Electro-Optical System Mees Solar Observatory Solar-C Telescope Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (proposed) Haleakala Observatory ATLAS Haleakala Tohoku Telescopes W. M. Keck Observatory Lanihuli Observatory Maunakea Observatories Mauna Loa Observatory Mauna Loa, Hawaii Mauna Loa Observatory Mauna Loa, Hawaii
Dark sky place Research or private observatory Observatory open to the public

Green dots are observatories open to the public, blue dots research or private sites, squares dark sky places; select one for its page. See Hawaii observatories for the full list.

The coordinates on this page point to Mauna Loa Observatory station (NOAA GML site record): 19.536°N, 155.576°W.

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Open the larger map · Directions. Mountain observatory roads are often gated after dark; go only on a scheduled public night.

Dark sky places, observatories and clubs near Mauna Loa Observatory

Nearest dark sky places

PlaceWhereBortleDistance
Mauna KeaHawaii228 km (17 mi)
Hawaii Volcanoes National ParkHawaii533 km (20 mi)
Kau Forest ReserveHawaii235 km (22 mi)
Manuka State WaysideHawaii154 km (34 mi)
Wai'anapanapa State ParkHawaii2145 km (90 mi)
Haleakala National ParkHawaii2149 km (92 mi)

Other observatories open to the public within 150 km

  • Maunakea ObservatoriesMauna Kea, Hawaii, 34 km (21 mi). Maunakea Visitor Information Station (2,800 m) hosts monthly reservation stargazing events; summit domes closed to public except resident KOE tours
  • W. M. Keck ObservatoryMaunakea, Hawaii Island, Hawaii, 34 km (21 mi). Summit Visitors' Gallery inside Keck I open daily 10 am-2:30 pm (4WD above 9,200 ft); no night viewing; headquarters in Waimea

Planning a trip? Astrotourism in Hawaii puts the dark sky places, observatories, clubs, star parties, planetariums and science centers of the state on one map, with the best night out worked out.

Mauna Loa Observatory record

Every value in the observatories dataset for Mauna Loa Observatory
ID246
NameMauna Loa Observatory
CityMauna Loa
StateHI
CountryUSA
Webhttps://gml.noaa.gov/obop/mlo/
Publicn
NotesNOAA atmospheric research
Elevation3397
Lat19.53620
Lon-155.57630
LatLonSpotMauna Loa Observatory station (NOAA GML site record)
StatusActive
StatusNoteNOAA atmospheric baseline station; 2022 eruption cut road and power, temporary road done Mar 2026, power not yet restored; proposed for closure in 2025 federal budget; CO2 record continues
PublicNoteNo public site access
Sourceshttps://gml.noaa.gov/obop/mlo/programs/esrl/co2/co2.html https://gml.noaa.gov/dv/site/MLO.html

From the site's observatories dataset (observatories_q426). Distances are computed from the coordinates.