During this public level talk I will talk about several important aspects of modern astronomy. First, I will give an broad overview of what it is like to observe with the biggest and best telescopes on the planet. After that I will talk about the telescopes on Mauna Kea and explain why it is the best site in the world for astronomical observations. I will show many photos of the summit area, the telescopes, and the instruments that we use to do cutting-edge science from right here in Hilo-town. The second part of the talk will cover a recent discovery we made about the planet-forming circumstellar disk around the star Beta Pictoris. Our new results show that there is likely a cosmic "demolition derby" happening in that disk where objects the size of Pluto or a large asteroid are smashing together and producing large amounts of dust that we can detect with new infrared camera systems. Since we believe that our own Solar System formed out of a disk just like the one surrounding Beta Pictoris, this research gives us a glimpse at what was happening around the Sun approximately 4.5 billion years ago when it was just an infant star. Indeed, by studying the "baby" planetary system which is forming around Beta Pictoris, we will learn much more about how our own Earth formed.