Subscribe ASTRONOMERS CAPTURE FIRST IMAGES OF NEWLY-DISCOVERED PLANETARY SYSTEM
Nov 13, 2008
Kamuela, HI (November 13th, 2008) Using high-contrast, near-infrared adaptive optics observations with the Keck and Gemini telescopes atop Mauna Kea, astronomers for the first time have taken snapshots of a multi-planet solar system, much like ours, orbiting another star. The new solar system...
Keck Telescope and Cosmic Lens Resolve Nature and Fate of Early Star-Forming
Oct 15, 2008
PASADENA, Calif. (October 15th, 2008) Astronomers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and their colleagues have provided unique insight into the nature of a young star-forming galaxy as it appeared only two billion years after the Big Bang and determined how the galaxy may...
KECK OBSERVATORY OPEN HOUSE SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2008: WELCOME TO THE EDGE OF DISCOVERY
Sep 4, 2008
(September 4th, 2008) W. M. Keck Observatorys 2008 Open House will feature “hands-on activities” and displays presenting the science, technology and excitement of astronomy.
MOST BLACK HOLES MIGHT COME IN ONLY SMALL AND LARGE
Aug 20, 2008
(August 20th, 2008) Black holes are sometimes huge cosmic beasts, billions of times the mass of our sun, and sometimes petite with just a few times the sun’s mass. But do black holes also come in size medium? Research combining data from the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton space telescope and...
RARE STAR MAKING MACHINE FOUND IN EARLY UNIVERSE
Jul 11, 2008
(July 11th, 2008) Astronomers have uncovered an extreme stellar machine of a galaxy in the very remote universe, pumping out stars at a surprising rate of up to 4,000 per year. In comparison, our own Milky Way galaxy turns out an average of just 10 stars per year. The discovery was made possible by...
ASTRONOMERS WEIGH THE COLDEST BROWN DWARFS WITH ASTRONOMY’S SHARPEST EYES
Jun 2, 2008
Honolulu (June 2nd, 2008) Astronomers have used ultrasharp images obtained with the Keck Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope to determine for the first time the masses of the coldest class of “failed stars,” a.k.a. brown dwarfs. With masses as light as 3 percent the mass of the sun, these are the...
KECK, HUBBLE IMAGES SHOW CONTINUED TURBULENCE IN JUPITER’S ATMOSPHERE
May 22, 2008
Berkeley (May 22nd, 2008) Increased turbulence and storms first observed on Jupiter more than two years ago are still raging, according to astronomers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, who snapped high-resolution pictures of the planet earlier...
COMPACT GALAXIES IN EARLY UNIVERSE PACK A BIG PUNCH
Apr 29, 2008
Baltimore, Md. (April 29th, 2008) Imagine receiving an announcement touting the birth of a baby 20 inches long and weighing 180 pounds. After reading this puzzling message, you would immediately think the baby’s weight was a misprint. Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the W. M....
Water Vapor Detected in Protoplanetary Disks
Mar 18, 2008
PASADENA, Calif.—Water is an essential ingredient for forming planets, yet has remained hidden from scientists searching for it in protoplanetary systems, the spinning disks of particles surrounding newly formed stars where planets are born. Now the detection of water vapor in the inner part of two...
NOVA PHENOMENON EXPLAINED WITH NULLING MODE AT KECK OBSERVATORY
Jan 28, 2008
MAUNA KEA (January 28th, 2008) First results from a new scientific instrument at W. M. Keck Observatory are helping scientists understand the physics behind recurrent novae, a type of cataclysmic star system. The results are overturning long-standing assumptions about powerful explosions called...
