News

an image of uma3/u1, a tiny cluster of ancient stars captured by cfht. Credit: CFHT/S. Gwyn

Faintest Known Star System Orbiting the Milky Way Discovered from Hawaiʻi

Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – A team of astronomers led by the University of Victoria and Yale University has detected an ancient …
sn 2023ixf occurred in a spiral arm of the pinwheel galaxy near several star-forming regions. Credit: Travis Deyoe, Mount Lemmon SkyCenter, University of Arizona

A Hundred Million Suns

The Most Complete Portrait of a Supernova Ever Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – Accounts of supernovae – exploding stars – go back …
an artist's impression of exoplanet wasp-69b orbiting its host star. Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko

WASP-69b: New Images Reveal Exoplanet’s Comet-Like Tail is Surprisingly Longer Than Previously Observed

Maunakea, Hawai‘i – New data from W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi Island confirms exoplanet WASP-69b, known for its …
odd radio circles, like orc 1 pictured above, are large enough to contain galaxies in their centers and reach hundreds of thousands of light years across. Credit: Jayanne English/University of Manitoba

Space Oddity: Uncovering the Origin of the Universe’s Rare Radio Circles

Written by Michelle Franklin, APRDirector of Communications, Physical Sciences at University of California, San Diego Maunakea, Hawai‘i– It’s not every …
W. M. Keck Observatory Appoints Rich Matsuda as Director

W. M. Keck Observatory Appoints Rich Matsuda as Director

International search confirms local-born executive to lead the Observatory Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – The W. M. Keck Observatory today announced the …
Strange New Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transient has Astronomers in Awe

Strange New Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transient has Astronomers in Awe

Maunakea, Hawai‘i – Astronomers are baffled by a series of strange, extremely bright repetitive flares that lasted for months – …
Swinburne and W. M. Keck Observatory Form Historic Scientific Partnership to Unlock New Era of Space Discovery for Australia and the U.S.

Swinburne and W. M. Keck Observatory Form Historic Scientific Partnership to Unlock New Era of Space Discovery for Australia and the U.S.

Swinburne University of Technology has become the first organization outside of the United States to join the W. M. Keck …
an artistic representation of how the northern infrared aurora would have looked like in 2006 (marked in red). the darker red locations indicate confirmed aurora locations, with fainter red used to mark possible aurora locations. Credit: NASA, ESA and M. Showalter (SETI Institute) for the background image of Uranus, as was observed by the Hubble Space Telescope (in the visible spectrum) in August 2005.

Uranus Aurora Discovery Offers Clues to Habitable Icy Worlds

Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – The presence of an infrared aurora on the cold, outer planet of Uranus has been confirmed for …
Credit: Carl Knox (OzGrav/Swinburne University)

Record-breaking Fast Radio Burst is Most Distant Ever Detected

Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – Scientists have discovered an eight-billion-year-old fast radio burst (FRB) – the most ancient and distant located to …
a mosaic of images captured using w. m. keck observatory's keck cosmic web imager showing the filaments of gas that make up the cosmic web. the green dots mark known galaxies the filaments connect to. Credit: C. Martin et al./Caltech/W. M. Keck Observatory

Cosmic Web Lights Up in the Darkness of Space

Keck Cosmic Web Imager Offers Best Glimpse Yet of the Filamentous Network That Connects Galaxies Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – Like rivers …
NASA Selects Groups to Guide ‘Habitable Worlds Observatory’ Activities, Invites Community Participation

NASA Selects Groups to Guide ‘Habitable Worlds Observatory’ Activities, Invites Community Participation

NASA has selected 56 individuals to participate in groups that will guide maturation activities for the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) …
an image of neptune taken with the keck ii telescope on june 21, 2023 shows almost no clouds except near the south pole. Credit: Imke de Pater, Erandi Chavez, Erin Redwing (UC Berkeley)/W. M. Keck Observatory

Clouds On Neptune Perform a Surprise Disappearing Act

Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – For the first time in nearly three decades of observations, clouds seen on Neptune have all but …