[1] The telescope was built with funding from NASA, to support Solar System missions, and is controlled by the University of Hawaiʻi.

[1] On December 4, 1984 it became the first telescope to make optical closure phase measurements on an astronomical source using an aperture mask.

UH88 is a Cassegrain reflector tube telescope with an f/10 focal ratio, supported by a large open fork equatorial mount.

David C. Jewitt and Jane X. Luu discovered the first Kuiper belt object,[1] 15760 Albion, using UH88, and a team led by Jewitt and Scott S. Sheppard discovered 45 of the known moons of Jupiter, as well as moons of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

The Institute for Astronomy also makes agreements with other organizations for portions of available observing time.