They are two of the largest telescope mirrors on the planet and they only work if they are bright and shiny. Keeping them that way that at almost 14,000 feet above sea level, while also not disrupting nightly astronomical observations, involves an ongoing dance of men and machines.
So you think you know something about those giant Keck telescopes up on Mauna Kea? Wanna bet? Test your O.I.Q. (that’s Observatory Intelligence Quotient) with this quick true-or-false pop quiz.
The observatory interns of today are the professional engineers and scientists of tomorrow. Hear from three Keck summer interns about their projects, what they have learned and what Keck and other cutting edge high-tech organizations get from a summertime injection of young intellect
It’s not as rough as exploring Antarctica with sled dogs, but working near the summit of Mauna Kea has its risks and rewards. Keck Observatory’s Joel Aycock and Joe Gargiulo talk about what life is like when you spend half of it laboring in the rarified air near 14,000 feet and why it’s worth all the weird things thin air does to your brain and body.
There are now four laser-toting telescopes on Mauna Kea, leading to some impressive new images and videos. The Keck I telescope is the latest to get a state-of-the-art laser which, when fired alongside the Keck II laser, can lead to images that bear a striking resemblance to scenes from Star Trek. But there is a lot more to these lasers than nice pictures. There’s a lot of gnarly science going on at both ends of those beams.
When the Wizard of Oz roared that line, he was hidden behind a curtain. He knew all too well that he was not particularly great nor very powerful, and wanted no one to find out (a scheme foiled by that heroic terrier Toto). The opposite problem exists at the W. M. Keck Observatory. There is genuinely great cosmic stuff being discovered with the world’s largest, optical and infrared telescopes – so ‘great’ and ‘powerful’ apply – but to many folks it all seems hidden behind a curtain.
There is no curtain, of course, as anyone knows if they have poked around the Keck Observatory Visitor Center in Waimea. But to banish even the shadow of any Oz-like shenanigans, here is a quick, easy-to-digest, summary of a few recent bona fide feats of Keck wizardry, including the discovery of the coldest star, the brightest star and a glimpse into the uncharted depths of Jupiter.
Super Stars: The Keck I Telescope played a key role in unraveling the mysteries of one of the brightest supernovas ever discovered. At its peak, supernova 2008am was over 100 billion times brighter than the Sun. It emitted enough energy in one second to satisfy the power needs of the United States for one million times longer than the universe has existed.
Dark Skies: Back on Earth the power we use causes a lot of light pollution that blocks our view of the universe. This weekend is your chance to help keep your skies dark through the GLOBE at Night campaign.
Super Moon Facts & Fiction: The scientific explanation for the recent Super Moon is simple. But the tall tales and myths that hitch along with the Super Moon are many and varied. Here’s a primer on Super Moons (yes, there is more than one kind).
Humans are not alone in their struggle against an increasing waistline. Astronomers believe that galaxies too put on weight throughout their lives, growing not only by consuming hydrogen gas—which is then converted to stars—but also by cannibalizing other galaxies. It’s a galaxy-eat-galaxy cosmos, but the big surprise is that many galaxies seem to be growing to even larger sizes than their eating habits would suggest.
The gluttonous galaxies in question are known, perhaps not surprisingly, as “ellipticals.” Their three-dimensional form distinguishes them from disk-like galaxies, including slim and beautiful spirals like M51 and our own Milky Way. Ellipticals have long been known to be, well, fat.
The W. M. Keck Observatory has received a $1.72 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to design the first near-infrared tip-tilt sensor used to correct for the turbulence in Earth’s atmosphere. The improvements will increase the sensitivity and resolution of the Keck I telescope, which already allows astronomers to resolve in the near-infrared as much detail or more as the Hubble Space Telescope resolves in visible light.
Astronomers using Keck Observatory have identified the first known quasar acting as a gravitational lens that magnifies an even more distant galaxy. The discovery may provide astronomers with a new technique to study quasars.
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