The University of Hawaii Board of Regents unanimously approved yesterday a plan to build the world’s largest telescope at Mauna Kea’s summit.

The decision clears the way for managers of the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope to seek a permit from the state to build the facility on conservation land.

Some native Hawaiians have opposed the telescope on the grounds it would defile Mauna Kea’s summit, which they consider sacred. Environmentalists say the telescope would harm the rare wekiu bug.

But the board was moved by the potential it offered for advancing science, providing jobs and helping the economy.

"I think it would be almost unthinkable not to approve this project for what it would mean for scientific research and astronomy, what it would mean for education, and the answers it may provide to unlock the mysteries of the universe," said board member Chuck Gee.

The university’s board must vote on the project because it owns the lease for the land on which the telescope would be built.

Seven members of the public testified in favor of the telescope at the board’s meeting. No opponents spoke, though critics have been vocal in the past about their arguments against the telescope.

The University of California system, the California Institute of Technology and the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy are spearheading the project.

The telescope would be able to observe planets that orbit stars other than the sun and enable astronomers to watch new planets and stars being formed. It should also help scientists see some 13 billion light-years away for a glimpse into the early years of the universe.

"TMT is going to take us on an exciting journey of discovery. We will find our way into the deep history of the universe," said UH President M.R.C. Greenwood.

Jean-Lou Chameau, president of California Institute of Technology, said the telescope was one of the world’s most important projects in science over the next 20 years.

Only the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest atom smasher, built at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, in Switzerland, was in the same league, he said.

"It will be a really big deal," Chameau said. "Hawaii will be a center of science and technology for many years to come."