HONOLULU - For decades, astronomers have flocked to the highest point in Hawaii to search the night skies with some of the most powerful telescopes on the planet.
Now a dispute is erupting at the 14,000-foot summit of the dormant Mauna Kea volcano over the presence of those telescopes. Native Hawaiian activists call them an unwelcome intrusion on sacred Hawaiian land.
University of Hawaii officials hope a master plan approved Friday for future telescope development will resolve that dispute.
At stake, scientists say, is a top-notch window to the universe.
''It's one of the best places on the entire earth to put a telescope,'' said Steven Vogt, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California at Santa Cruz, who helped discover the first planets smaller than Jupiter ever found outside the solar system.
More major telescopes are located on Mauna Kea, or ''White Mountain,'' than any other single peak - 12. They include the world's largest optical and infrared telescopes at the W.M. Keck Observatory.
The University of Hawaii oversees the observatory, which is used by NASA, the California Institute of Technology and institutions from Canada, France, Japan and the United Kingdom, among others. It generates about $142 million a year for the state's economy.
But the sometimes snowcapped summit - considered the ''piko,'' or navel, that connects Hawaiians back through time - also is home to several endangered native species and archaeological sites. Natives consider it the home of the Hawaiian goddesses of snow and mist.
At a tiny mountain lake, generations of Hawaiians have offered their children's umbilical cords to connect them to the spiritual world.
''The University of Hawaii does not have autonomy on Mauna Kea,'' said Abraham Kamakawiwoole, who sees astronomers' use of the mountain top as another example of stolen Hawaiian land. ''The indigenous people of the Hawaiian archipelago do. Jurisdiction of Mauna Kea belongs to the Native Hawaiian.''
Still, the research conducted at Mauna Kea is impressive.
Scientists there have spotted galaxies in the early stages of formation; found evidence the universe's expansion may be speeding up rather than slowing down; and identified objects beyond Neptune left over from the formation of the solar system.
''All of this work couldn't be done without the quality of observing that can be done from Mauna Kea,'' said Robert McLaren, interim director of the university's Institute for Astronomy. ''The only alternative would be to do it in space, and that's extremely expensive.''
A draft plan guiding future telescope development has been rewritten five times since 1983, costing the university more than $1 million. On Friday, the university's Board of Regents approved a plan that President Kenneth Mortimer said ''respects the sacredness of the mountain.''
The 20-year master plan reduces astronomy zones from 160 to 150 acres within the 11,300-acre science reserve, and allows for three new telescopes instead of five, as originally planned.
The regents, who include Native Hawaiians, retain ultimate authority over new development but now will be advised by community members and Hawaiian cultural experts.
The plan also bars major changes to the lunar-like summit landscape and new telescopes must blend with the surroundings.
Vogt said he and other scientists are sensitive to Hawaiian cultural concerns and feel a kinship with the ancient Hawaiians, who relied on the stars to navigate their Pacific crossings.
''We're starting now to take the tiniest little steps on that long, long journey to figure out how we can get off this little rock and go somewhere where we can survive as a species,'' Vogt said. ''I would think if I were a Native Hawaiian, I would feel kind of honored to have such a place used for such things.''
