Telescope approved

A TEAM of scientists has won approval from Hawaii officials to build a $US1.4 billion ($A1.8 billion) telescope atop a volcano indigenous people consider sacred, but opponents have vowed to keep fighting.

The Hawaii Board of Land and Natural Resources voted 5-2 to allow construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on the summit of Mauna Kea on Hawaii’s Big Island.

Astronomers consider the site one of the world’s best places to view the cosmos, while native Hawaiians say the project would disturb holy ground.