[1] It is located on the island of Maui and is owned by the Institute for Astronomy of the University of Hawaiʻi, which operates some of the facilities on the site and leases portions to other organizations.

Tenants include the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGTN).

At over 3,050 meters (10,010 ft) in elevation, the summit of Haleakalā is above one third of the Earth's troposphere and has excellent astronomical seeing conditions.

By detecting any differences from previous observations of the same areas of the sky, it has discovered over 5,700 new asteroids, comets, variable stars and other celestial objects.

[9] The Day-Night Seeing Monitor Telescope System (DNSM) makes telescope-independent observations of perturbations in the atmosphere above Haleakala.