James Clerk Maxwell Telescope.

Research observatory · Mauna Kea, Hawaii

James Clerk Maxwell Telescope

James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) is a research observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii. James Clerk Maxwell Telescope is about 7 km (5 mi) from Mauna Kea, a Bortle Class 2 dark sky place.

James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in brief

Open to the public
No regular public access
Bortle class
Not yet rated
Observes in
Submillimeter
Part of
Mauna Kea Observatories (MKO)
Operated by
East Asian Observatory

Official site

Can you visit James Clerk Maxwell Telescope? No regular public access

No public access.

For telescope views near James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, see the observatories open to the public and astronomy clubs nearby; clubs hold free public star parties.

James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope

Telescopes at James Clerk Maxwell Telescope: submillimeter

15m sub-mm dish.

Mauna Kea Observatories (MKO): 11 observatories on one site

How dark the sky is at James Clerk Maxwell Telescope

James Clerk Maxwell Telescope 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.

James Clerk Maxwell Telescope 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 Mauna Loa Observatory Leeward College Observatory KEASA Observatory Gemini North Observatory Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Subaru 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 James Clerk Maxwell Telescope Mauna Kea, Hawaii James Clerk Maxwell Telescope Mauna Kea, 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 JCMT (IRTF survey list): 19.823°N, 155.477°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 James Clerk Maxwell Telescope

James Clerk Maxwell Telescope is about 7 km (5 mi) from Mauna Kea, a Bortle Class 2 dark sky place. See Mauna Kea for camping, where to set up and the sky by season.

Nearest dark sky places

PlaceWhereBortleDistance
Mauna KeaHawaii27 km (5 mi)
Hawaii Volcanoes National ParkHawaii549 km (30 mi)
Kau Forest ReserveHawaii268 km (42 mi)
Manuka State WaysideHawaii187 km (54 mi)
Wai'anapanapa State ParkHawaii2119 km (74 mi)
Haleakala National ParkHawaii2128 km (79 mi)

Other observatories open to the public within 150 km

  • W. M. Keck ObservatoryMaunakea, Hawaii Island, Hawaii, 0 km (0 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
  • Maunakea ObservatoriesMauna Kea, Hawaii, 1 km (0 mi). Maunakea Visitor Information Station (2,800 m) hosts monthly reservation stargazing events; summit domes closed to public except resident KOE tours

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.

James Clerk Maxwell Telescope record

Every value in the observatories dataset for James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
ID254
NameJames Clerk Maxwell Telescope
AcronymJCMT
Addresssummit
CityMauna Kea
StateHI
CountryUSA
Webhttps://www.eaobservatory.org/jcmt/
Publicn
Jobshttps://www.eaobservatory.org/east-asia-observatory/employment/
Telescope15m sub-mm dish
ComplexMauna Kea Observatories (MKO)
ParentEast Asian Observatory
Submily
Lat19.82281
Lon-155.47700
LatLonSpotJCMT (IRTF survey list)
StatusActive
StatusNoteOperated by East Asian Observatory
PublicNoteNo public access
Sourceshttps://www.eaobservatory.org/jcmt/
ParkID195
ParkKm7.4

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