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Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Planetary scientists continue to search for the source of the jets of vapor and icy particles that spew out of Saturn’s tiny moon Enceladus.
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Credit: Robert Barker, Cornell University
This artists' rendering shows XO-1b, which is similar, yet much smaller than XO-3b.
Credit: IAP, INSU-CNRS
This schematic view shows the orbit of the XO-3b planet, as seen from the Earth. The XO-3b planet could have an oblique orbit, which makes it orbit almost over the top of the poles of its star.
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Credit: Alan Stockton, UH/WMKO
This image shows a galaxy in the field of the radio galaxy 4C 23.56, at a distance of about 11 billion light years observed with the Keck II laser-guide-star adaptive-optics system. The upper-right panel is the best-fit Sersic model, and the lower-left panel shows the difference between the original image and the model. The lower-right panel shows the model and gives the best impression of the true over-all shape of the galaxy, which is most easily interpreted as a disk moderately to highly inclined to astronomers' line-of-sight.
Credit: Alan Stockton, UH/WMKO
This image shows a group of luminous galaxies near the radio galaxy TXS 2332+154, which has been identified with the galaxy at the upper right corner of the group at a distance of roughly 11 billion light years from Earth. The Keck II LGSAO image is shown in the upper-left panel. The best-fit model for the five galaxies is shown in the upper-right. Of special interest is the tidal tail between the lower galaxies and the galaxy at the lower left of the group: it appears to be a galaxy more massive than our own Milky Way, yet it packs most of its light within a radius of 1500 light years.
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Credit: Credit: NASA/SkyWorks Digital
This image represents an artist's conception of a gamma-ray burst destroying a star.
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Credit: M. Ouchi et al.
This composite image of Himiko, an Alpha-Lyman blob, is shown in false color. Himiko sits nearly 13 billion light years from Earth and spans 55 thousand light years, a record for that early point in time. The thick horizontal bar at the lower right corner presents a size of 10 thousand light years.
Credit: M. Ouchi et al.
This image shows the spectrum of the Himiko object. The top panel shows the two dimensional view of the Keck/DEIMOS data, while the bottom shows the same data in one dimension.
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Credit: NASA, ESA, CXC, C. Ma, H. Ebeling, and E. Barrett (University of Hawaii/IfA), et al., and STScI
This image shows MACSJ0717.5+3745 as a composite of separate exposures made by the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Credit: X-ray (NASA/CXC/IfA/C. Ma et al.); Optical (NASA/STScI/IfA/C. Ma et al.)
This labeled version of the MACSJ0717 image shows the galaxies in the four different clusters involved in the collision, plus the direction of motion for the three fastest moving clusters. The length of the arrow shows the approximate speed in a direction perpendicular to the line of sight. The direction of motion of the clusters appears roughly parallel to the direction of the filament.
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Credit: Laurie Hatch
The twin 10-meter Keck telescopes are on a mission to discover extrasolar Earths.
Credit: STSCI
Kepler is a NASA Discovery mission designed to search for extrasolar planets. The spacecraft’s 84-megapixel camera will focus on a single region of the sky and snap repeated images of 100,000 stars looking for those that dim periodically. Astronomers will then study those stars with the Keck ten-meter telescope.
Credit:
NASA
A transit occurs when a planet crosses in front of its star from the perspective of the observer. When Earth-like planets transit their parent star, they block out about 1/10,000 the starlight.
Credit:
NASA
Kepler is designed to find the first Earth-size planet candidates orbiting stars in the “Goldilocks” zone – the region around a star where the temperature is not too hot, not too cold, but just right. This zone is far from a hot, blue star, so any habitable planet around a hot star would have a long-period orbit. For cooler, redder stars, a planet in the zone would be close-in and would orbit in several weeks or months.
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Credit: IYA2009
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Credit: NASA
This image shows concentrations of Martian methane in the planet's northern hemisphere during its summer season.
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Credit: NASA, Swift, Stefan Immler
This image shows the Swift telescope's optical (blue and green) and X-ray views of GRB 080607, which the astronomers used to study the star-forming environment of a distant galaxy. The white spot at center is the burst’s optical afterglow.
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Credit:
Christian Marois and Bruce Macintosh
Three exoplanets orbiting a young star 140 light years away are captured using Keck Observatory near-infrared adaptive optics. The planets are labeled and the two outer ones have arrows showing the size of their motion over a four year period.
Credit: Rick Peterson
W.M. Keck Observatory, Mauna Kea, Hawaii
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Credit:
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Credit: Sarah Anderson
Waimea Parks and Recreation Summer Fun youth view the sun through a solar telescope.
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Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/NOAO/AURA/NSF
Until now, astronomers had suspected that globular clusters like the one pictured here were the most likely place to find medium-sized black holes -- elusive objects that have proved difficult to pin down. Globular clusters are spherical collections of stars that orbit around larger galaxies like our Milky Way. Scientists analyzed a globular cluster called RZ2109 and found it does not possess a medium-sized black hole. RZ2109 is much farther away than the globular cluster pictured here, called Omega Centauri.
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Credit: Laurie Hatch / W. M. Keck Observatory
Observations made using the W.M. Keck Observatory revealed the distant location of an unusually active star making galaxy.
Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)
This galaxy, called Zw II 96, loosely resembles the most active star-forming galaxy in the distant universe.
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Credit: Dr. Michael Liu (Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii).
Figure 1. Infrared image of the very low-temperature binary 2MASS 1534-2952AB, composed of two methane brown dwarfs.
Credit: Mr. Trent Dupuy and Dr. Michael Liu (Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii)
Figure 2. Infrared image of the dusty brown dwarf binary HD 130948BC (upper left in orbit around a young sun-like star, seen to the lower right.
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Credit: Imke de Pater, Michael Wong (UC Berkeley); Al Conrad (Keck Observatory), and Chris Go (Cebu, Philippines)
[Left]: A false-color composite near-infrared image of Jupiter and its moon Europa, taken on 11 May 2008 at (~15:00 UT ) with the Keck II telescope on Mauna Kea. Adaptive optics (AO) techniques were used to sharpen the image. [Right]: Mosaic of the area (outlined in white on the composite image) around Jupiter's red ovals at a wavelength of 5 micron. At this wavelength we receive thermal radiation from the deep atmosphere. All three spots appear dark because clouds obscure heat emanating from lower elevations.
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Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Feild (STScI), and P. van Dokkum (Yale University)
This illustration shows the comparative sizes of our Milky Way Galaxy and an ultracompact galaxy, which existed in the early universe. Although the compact galaxy is only a fraction of the size of our Milky Way, it contains the same number of stars. The small, dense galaxy could fit inside the central hub of our Milky Way.
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Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
In this artist's representation, a disk of gas and dust, the raw materials that are thought to coalesce to form rocky planets such as Earth, orbits a very young star.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Naval Research Laboratory
The signatures of water vapor and simple organic molecules in the disk of gas and dust surrounding a young star, star AA Tauri, reveal themselves in this plot of infrared data taken with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope's spectrograph (top line). The model (bottom line) represents data representing the relative spectral contributions of each chemical component that's been adjusted until the theoretical line matches the observed data. The calculations that went into the model provide information on how much of a given material is present, what its temperature is and how much area it covers.
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Credit: Casey Reed
Artist concept of the RS Ophiuchi binary system shortly after a white dwarf (right) has exploded as a nova. Scientists have detected dust in the system, depicted here as spiral dust lanes.
Credit: Rick Peterson
The two Keck 10-meter (33 feet) telescopes.
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Credit: NASA/JPL
The Keck Interferometer, with the telescopes' doors open to equalize temperature inside and outside of the domes.
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Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
This artist's concept shows four of the five planets that orbit 55 Cancri, a star much like our own.
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Credit: Mate Adamkovics/UC Berkeley, W. M. Keck Observatories, ESO
VLT and Keck near-infrared images of Titan's surface and lower troposphere can be subtracted to reveal widespread cirrus-like clouds of frozen methane (lower images) and a large patch of liquid methane (dark area within box) interpreted as clouds and morning drizzle above the huge continent of Xanadu (outline). At left is a chart of Titan's aerosol haze versus altitude, indicating higher density haze over portions of the south pole and the heights of frozen and liquid methane clouds.
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Credit: Marshall & Treu (UCSB)
Color composite image of the gravitational lens system, made from Hubble (blue and green) and Keck (red) data. The blue ring is the tiny background galaxy, stretched by the gravitational pull of the foreground lens galaxy at the center of the image.
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Credit: M. Geha
Distribution of newly discovered dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way
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Credit: UCB/NASA/Keck Observatory
The central starburst region of the IC 10 irregular dwarf galaxy.
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Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory/UC Berkeley
Keck images showing the dark side of the rings of Uranus as they appeared in May 2007. Only light transmitted through the rings is detected in this image. Optically dense regions are not visible, except for the very small amount of light scattered from their lit "face," or outermost edge.
Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory/UC Berkeley
Keck II telescope images comparing changes to the lit and unlit sides of the rings of Uranus. The top frame shows the unlit side of the rings in May 2007. The middle image shows the sunlight side of the rings in August 2006. The bottom image also shows the lit side of the rings in July 2004. The dotted lines show the position of the Epsilon ring (upper line) and the Zeta ring (lower line).
Credit:
W. M. Keck Observatory (Marcos van Dam)
Keck II composite image of Uranus taken on May 28, 2007. The image is comprised of two different types of infrared light, which is invisible to human eyes. The exposures were assigned artificial color to show details in the planet and the rings. The body of planet Uranus appears brighter in one filter (H-band), and the rings appear relatively stronger in the other filter (K-band).
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Credit: Jon Lomberg\Gemini Observatory
An artist's rendering of the white dwarf GD 362, surrounded by a dust disk.
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Credit: Jeffrey Hall, Lowell Observatory
A computer-generated simulation of TrES-4, with its host star on the right. The planet's home star is bigger and hotter than the Sun, and is about ten times larger than the planet. Astronomers speculate that the large size and low density of TrES-4 may cause a small fraction of its outer atmosphere to escape from the planet’s gravitational pull and form an envelope, or a comet-like tail around the planet. This research is funded by NASA through the Origins of Solar Systems Program.
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Credit: NASA\ESA\UC BERKELEY
Dust orbits in a needle-shaped ring around the star HD 15115 in this Hubble Space Telescope image.
An occulting mask was used to block out bright starlight. The masks can be seen in the image as the dark circle in the center and the dark bar on the left.
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Credit: Caltech\D. Stark, J. Richard, R. Ellis
A selection of Hubble Space Telescope images show cluster fields with distant galaxy sources marked with circles. Each foreground cluster of galaxies acts as a natural telescope with particularly strong magnification along the `critical lines' indicated here with black curves.
Credit: Caltech\W. M. Keck Observatory\D. Stark, J. Richard, R. Ellis
A mosaic of six distant galaxies discovered by gravitational lensing. Each image, obtained with the NIRSPEC instrument on the Keck II telescope, reveals a faint spectrum line (circled). Astronomers interpret these signals as arising from a line of neutral hydrogen, significantly `redshifted' from its normal location in the ultraviolet.
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Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory
Keck II Telescope image of Dwarf Planet Eris and its satellite Dysnomia, the most distant objects ever detected in the solar system at the time of their discovery. Dysnomia (right) was discovered using the W. M. Keck Observatory on September 10, 2005 (UT).
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Credit: Scott Chapman, University of Cambridge
Close up view of smoothed map, with stars confirmed as members using Keck data
Credit: Scott Chapman, University of Cambridge
Smoothed map of likely Andromeda 12 stars from CFHT-MegaCam image, with stars confirmed as members using Keck data
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Credit: UCSC\W. M. Keck Observatory
NGC 6240 is an ongoing collision of two gas-rich disk galaxies.
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Credit: UC Berkeley/Lick Observatory
The DEIMOS spectrograph on the Keck II telescope was used to measure the properties of the brightest supernova ever seen. Image taken with Lick Observatory Adaptive Optics.
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Credit: Peter Tuthill\Palomar\Keck
A scintillating square-shaped nebula nestled in a vast sea of stars.
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Credit: NASA\ESA Jean-Paul Kneib
Data collected at the W. M. Keck Observatory helped determine the age of a star-forming region disrupted by an odd-looking galaxy.
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Credit: Michaela Lewis
A 6.7 earthquake damaged the front lobby at the W. M. Keck Observatory headquarter facilities in Kamuela, Hawaii
Credit: Sarah Anderson
Facilities Manager Dennis McBride assesses damage in the Keck I remote ops control room. The clock is stopped at the time of the earthquake.
Credit:
Michaela Lewis
Shadows mark a familiar pattern in the glass as the sun passes over W. M. Keck Observatory headquarters.
Credit:
Sarah Anderson
Keck Machinist Neil Felton shows what 100,000 pounds of force can do to an earthquake restraint pad which was removed from the Keck I telescope during earthquake recovery efforts.
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Credit: Loke Tan, Santa Barbara Instrument Group
A classic portrait of the nebulous region surrounding the star Rho Ophiuchi (v-band). Image obtained with a 106mm F/5 refractor.
Credit: Lowell Observatory and W. M. Keck Observatory
Keck adaptive optics image of a complex hierarchical star system.
Credit:
Lowell Observatory
Artist illustration of a complex quadruple star system discovered by Lowell Observatory astronomer Dr. Lisa Prato. The star shown (inset) is a spectroscopic or close binary star which orbits a more widely spaced dual-star system, an example of a “hierarchical quadruple” star system.
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Credit: Michael Ireland, Caltech
A false-color image of the Mira star system. Blue represents data obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope and red and green represent ground-based data obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii and the Gemini South Observatory in Chile. Mira B glows blue. The dust outflow from the bright star Mira A (right) has a green, nearly transparent color from silicate dust. The red color near the companion star, Mira B is caused by heating of the opaque edge of the disk from Mira A.
Credit: Michael Ireland, Caltech
A schematic of the Mira star system. The dying star Mira A (right) sheds its outer layers. Nearly 1% of this material is captured by its companion star, Mira B (left). The result is a dusty disk, from which planets may eventually form. Scientists are now able to study the portion of the disk which is illuminated by radiation from Mira A.
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Credit: Caltech/EPFL
Keck telescope image of a triple quasar (I-band). Arrows mark the location of three physically distinct quasars in a compact galaxy cluster.
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Credit: UC Berkeley/W. M. Keck Observatory
GRB 060505: Gamma ray burst without a supernova.
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Credit: LESIA\ESO\SwRI\W. M. Keck Observatory
Infrared images of Ceres reveal a textured surface, and astronomers have produced a colour 3D model from the data. The blue in the 3D model corresponds to the dark patches in the infrared, the yellow to the bright. The blackout at the edges is due to insufficient data at the poles.
Credit: LESIA\ESO\SwRI\W. M. Keck Observatory
360 images from the NIRC2 camera on Keck II were used to produce this infrared image of Ceres.
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Credit: Onizuka VIS
Most Dedicated Volunteer Joshua Williams, Volunteer of the Year Benjamin Berkey, and Hoku Award winner Clifford Livermore at the Volunteer Appreciation Dinner.
Credit: Onizuka VIS
2006 Onizuka VIS Volunteers
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Credit: University of Toronto
Discovery image of Supernovae SNLS-03D3bb. This peculiar supernova does not fit the standard model for these enormous thermonuclear explosions.
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Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory
The Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea
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Credit: Peter Tuthill, Don Figer (STScI) et al., NASA
Superimposed on a 1997 Hubble Space Telescope image of the Quintuplet Cluster are two Keck Observatory images of the pinwheel dust clouds surrounding two of the cluster’s five hot red stars. Keck’s resolution was five times better than Hubble, allowing astronomers to see clearly the signature of a colliding-wind binary star system.
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Credit: Sarah Anderson
Cherie Kinoshita, one of 13 students from the 2006 Akamai Internship program, on the summit of Mauna Kea in front of one of the antennas of the Smithsonian Submillimeter Array, where she interned this summer.
Credit: Sarah Anderson
Arlen Kam, Megan Ansdell, Cherie Kinoshita, David Trang and Bronson Libed, 2006 Akamai interns, celebrate at the reception following the Student Symposium on July 28th at the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo.
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Credit: Imke de Pater, Michael Wong (UC Berkeley); Al Conrad (Keck), and Chris Go (Cebu, Philippines)
A false-color composite near-infrared image of Jupiter and its moon Io, taken July 20 Hawaii time (July 21 UT) by the Keck II telescope on Mauna Kea using adaptive optics (AO) to sharpen the image. See end of text for more detail.
Credit: Imke de Pater, Michael Wong (UC Berkeley); Al Conrad (Keck), and Chris Go (Cebu, Philippines)
At left is a false-color composite near-infrared image of Jupiter and its moon Io, taken July 20 Hawaii time (July 21 UT) by the Keck II telescope on Mauna Kea using adaptive optics (AO) to sharpen the image. At right is a closeup of the two red spots through a 5-micron filter, which samples thermal radiation from deep in the cloud layer. See end of release text for more detail.
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Credit: IOTA/CfA
Aerial view of the recently decommissioned IOTA array atop Mt. Hopkins in Arizona.
Credit: Bob Goodrich, Mike Bolte, and the ESI team. (W. M. Keck Observatory)
The ring nebula (M57), a planetary nebula in the constellation Lyra, was once a red giant that may have ended its life as a Mira variable, during which stage it gradually blew off its outer layers.
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Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory
Photo of the Keck I and II domes at sunset, used as cover art for the award-winning DVD "The Kecks of Mauna Kea."
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Credit: Computer model of the exterior of the completed MOSFIRE instrument. It will stand 5 feet and weigh approximately 4000 pounds.
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Credit: NOAO/W. M. Keck Observatory
Dr. Taft E. Armandroff has been appointed director for the W. M. Keck Observatory, effective July 1, 2006
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Credit: Lynette Cook and W. M. Keck Observatory
Artist's representation of binary asteroid (617) Patroclus, a trojan asteroid gravitationally locked 60-degrees behind the orbit of Jupiter in its path around the Sun.
Credit: IMCCE/UC Berkeley
An illustration of "Lagrangian points" in the Sun-Jupiter system. Lagrangian points are five positions in interplanetary space where small objects, affected only by gravity, are stationary relative to two larger objects (such as the Sun and Jupiter). Purple lines represent the L4 and L5 Lagrangian points. More than a thousand asteroids have been discovered in these positions, indicated by white dots.
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Credit: Craig Nance/Keck/CfAO
David Luis, an electrical engineering student at UH Manoa, interned at the W. M. Keck Observatory this past summer. In this photo, David positions a weather surveillance camera outside the Observatory.
Credit: Sarah Anderson/Keck/CfAO
Subaru Telescope Intern Mark Nishimura surveys an antennae at the Smithsonian Submillimeter Array on Mauna Kea..
Credit:
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Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory
Routing of single-mode fibers from the Keck Nasmyth foci down to the basement beam combination laboratory. Fibers are attached to the telescope structure like regular cables and go through the cable wrap system to prevent any damage when the telescopes rotate in azimuth. The remaining fiber lengths (approximately 200 m for each arm) are wrapped on spools in the basement.
Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory/`OHANA
Sketch of the interfacing of the ‘OHANA fibers output with the Keck Interferometer delay lines and beam combiner. Only one beam/fiber is shown for the sake of clarity. The two beams follow equivalent paths. The fiber is placed at the focus of an off-axis parabola (OAP) to produce a collimated beam. The beam is reflected with a flat mirror (M10) towards the Long Delay Line. It is then launched into the Fast Delay Line. The beam size is reduced in a Beam Compressor and feeds the Beam Combiner.
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Credit: LGS-AO Engineering Team/Keck
Protoplanetary nebulae IRAS 19292+1806. Composite near-infrared (1.25, 1.65, 2.2, 3.45 microns) obtained in July, 2005. FOV = 2"x2"
Credit: LGS-AO Engineering Team/Keck
Protoplanetary nbulae IRAS 17347-3139. Composite near infrared image ( 2.2, 3.45, 4.7 microns) obtained in July, 2005. FOV = 3"x3"
Credit:
LGS-AO Engineering Team/Keck
This protoplanetary nebula is reflected light from a dying star that is shedding its outer layers in the final stages of its life. As more and more material is lost from the star’s surface, the surface temperature will become hotter, allowing ultraviolet light to ionize the emitted gasses. This process typically results in a planetary nebula in a few thousand years. Composite image of near-infrared wavelengths (1.65, 2.12 and 2.29 microns) obtained in July, 2004. FOV = 15.8"x23.7”
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Credit: N. Smith, University of Colorado/Gemini/HST
Close-up of the Trapezium region in the Orion Nebula. On the left, sources A-D are bright in the mid-infrared. On the right, the same sources are dark in optical wavelengths and sometimes are viewed in silhouette against the bright nebula.
Credit: N. Smith, University of Colorado/Gemini/Keck
Dust emission from protoplanetary disks in Orion. On the left is a mid-infrared image (11.7 microns) of the Trapezium region in the Orion Nebula. On the right are spectra from Keck Observatory that show grains in one of the protoplanetary disks have grown well beyond the sizes typical of the interstallar medium.
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Credit: UC Berkeley/SETI/KECK
The dashed line marks the position of the innermost of two new rings observed with the Keck II Telescope in Hawaii. The previously known ring system is shown lying within the new ring, while the lower panel shows an enhanced image of the faint ring as captured in infrared wavelengths with the Keck telescope.
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Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)
Astronomers using the Keck II telescope found the first evidence of organic molecules in the inner regions of a protoplanetary disk where planets, and maybe life, might someday form.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)
Spectral data reveals the presence of organic compounds in the stellar disk orbiting the protostar IRS 46. Astronomers were able to make the first discovery of acetylene, hrodogen cyanide and carbon dioxide in a stellar disk by breaking the starlight into its component wavelengths, or colors. Acetylene, hydrogen cyanide and carbon dioxide have been found to form organic compounds including amino acids and a DNA purine base under certain conditions.
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Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory/ UCLA Galactic Center Group
The center of our Milky Way galaxy, as seen in the infrared using the Keck Laser Guide Star. The white cross marks the location of the supermassive black hole.
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Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory
Observations with the Keck I telescope on Mauna Kea have found distant supernovae are strikingly similar to local supernovae, giving strong support to theories that the expansion rate of the universe is increasing. The cause of this acceleration may be some unknown form of exotic energy that causes space to push outwards.
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Credit: M. Weiss, Chandra X-Ray Center
Artist's illustration of what a gamma-ray burst may look like.
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Credit: Sarah Anderson, W. M. Keck Observatory
Optical Mechanical Technician Tim Saloga uses supplemental oxygen to improve his concentration and performance while working at 14,000 feet.
Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory
A daily breakfast provided by the M.R. and Evelyn Hudson Foundation helps protect the health and stamina of Keck Observatory staff before they begin work in harsh summit conditions.
Credit:
W. M. Keck Observatory
Facility Engineer Craig Nance models an oxygen unit paid for by the M.R. and Evelyn Hudson Foundation. The grant is the first to allow all summit staff at an astronomical observatory to benefit from the health benefits of supplemental oxygen.
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Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory
An image of the most distant planet (2003 UB313) ever seen in the Solar System. A companion (right) was discovered at Keck Observatory on September 10, 2005 (UT). This near-infrared image is a composite of 24 exposures taken at 2.1 micron wavelength with the Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics System on the Keck II telescope on Mauna Kea. The ability of the system to detect extremely faint objects at high spatial resolution is advancing the understanding of binary Kuiper belt objects.
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Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Credit: NASA/JPL
Mauna Kea telescopes unite to study comet Tempel 1
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Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory
Debbie Goodwin is the Director of Advancement for W. M. Keck Observatory
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Credit: NASA/JPL
The Outrigger Telescope Web site provides more information at: Planet Quest
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Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory
Near infrared (2.2 micron) image of Comet Tempel 1 on June 29, 2005. This image was taken with Keck II Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics.
Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory
Visible light image of Comet Tempel 1 taken with the Keck II NIRSPEC guider camera on June 29, 2005.
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Credit: National Science Foundation/Trent Schindler
In this artist's conception a newly discovered planet is shown as a hot, rocky, geologically active world glowing in the deep red light of its nearby parent star, the M dwarf Gliese 876. The heat and the reddish light are among the few things about the new planet that are certain; depending on the thickness and composition of its atmosphere - if any - it could range from being a barren, cratered ball of rock like Mercury or the Moon, to being a featureless, cloud-shrouded cue-ball like Venus.
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Credit: University of Exeter/Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison/Spitzer/Caltech/UH-IfA
Hydrogen gas `glows' as it absorbs ultraviolet light from young stars. The line emission tells astronomers how much the Universe has expanded since the light left the galaxy.
Credit: University of Exeter/Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison/Spitzer/Caltech/UH-IfA
Hubble Space Telescope picture of a very distant galaxy. The redshift 5.78 galaxy is the most red object in the field - circled in the center.
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Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory/SRI/New Mexico State
Titan on Feb. 15, 2005 just 23 minutes before the Cassini spacecraft's third flyby of the moon.
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Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory/NASA/JPL-G. Orton
False-color mosaics of Saturn's infrared heat emission taken on February 4, 2004, with the Keck I telescope. These images show tropospheric temperatures (left: 17.65 microns) and stratospheric temperatures (right: 8.00 microns).
Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory/NASA/JPL-G. Orton
Mosaic false-color image of thermal heat emission from Saturn and its rings taken on February 4, 2004, with the Keck I telescope at 17.65 micron wavelengths. The black square at 4 o'clock represents missing data. This wavelength is sensitive to temperatures in Saturn's upper troposphere. Warming of ring particles can be seen as they emerge from Saturn's shadow (at the 8 o'clock position).
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Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory
Near-infrared images of Titan's upper atmosphere from the W.M. Keck Observatory were used to search for the meteor trail expected from the Huygens probe. No atmospheric disturbance was detected.
Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory
Near-infrared surface image of Titan captured with Keck adaptive optics system moments after the Huygens probe reached its target at 09:06 GMT January 14, 2005. The bright and dark patterns on Titan's surface may be regions of solid ice and of liquid hydrocarbons.
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Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory
This high-resolution, false-color image of the dying star IRAS16342-3814 is a combination of three images, one taken with the HST (shown in blue) at visible wavelength (0.6 µm) and two taken with Keck AO in the near-infrared at 2.1 µm (shown in green) and 3.8 µm (shown in red). The image shows two lobes, which are cavities in an extended cloud of gas and dust, illuminated by light from a central star which lies between the two lobes, but is hidden from our view behind a dense, dust lane that separates the two lobes. In the HST image seen in blue light here, only diffuse light form the two lobe center is seen and little detail is revealed for studying the nebula structure.
Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory
This high resolution false-color image of the dying star is a combination of three Keck AO images taken in the near infrared at 2.1, 3.8 and 4.5 µm. Scientists are using different near-infrared filters with Keck AO to probe deeper inside the nebula. As they see the shape of the nebula in more detail, they discover a signature of a precessing jet inscribed into the lobe walls.
Credit:
W. M. Keck Observatory
In the Keck AO images, the lobes show a remarkable corkscrew-shaped structure (marked by dashed lines) apparently etched into the lobe walls. The corkscrew is a clear signature of an underlying high-speed jet of matter which has carved out the two lobes, and provides unambiguous support for a recently proposed hypothesis that the shaping of most planetary nebulae is carried out by such jets.
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Credit: UCSC, UCLA, W. M. Keck Observatory
The galaxy (CDF-S: J033212.2-274241) above is an X-ray source 30 times stronger than the galaxy in figure 1. This galaxy appears to be undergoing an even more violent merger event, which is funneling gas onto a massive black hole in its core, producing powerful X-rays. Black holes of this sort have masses up to a billion times that of our Sun. The object is 5.7 billion light years away, and is seen when the universe was just over half its present age.
Credit: UCSC, UCLA, W. M. Keck Observatory
This galaxy (CDF-S:[MBR2003]H_0941) contains two nuclei, indicating a recent galaxy-galaxy collision. The right-hand nucleus is slightly bluer than its partner. The galaxy is an X-ray source and is 4.6 billion light years away. This three color image combines optical light from the Hubble space telescope with infrared light from the Keck laser guide star system.
Credit:
UCSC, UCLA, W. M. Keck Observatory
Ground based near-infrared images of the galaxy above, seen without adaptive optics (left) and with laser-enabled adaptive optics (right). In the right hand image, the two nuclei are separated by roughly 0.3 seconds of arc, which is the angular size of a person seen 1000 miles away.
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Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory/H. Roe, Caltech and collaborators
Keck II infrared image of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Astronomers used this and other pictures taken with the Keck and Gemini telescopes on Mauna Kea to study Titan's surface features with a K' band filter.
Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory/H. Roe, Caltech and collaborators
This panel shows Titan's surface (left), Troposphere (middle) and Stratosphere (right) with Keck II adaptive optics. Different filters were used to discriminate features. The surface was observed with filters at 2.0 microns, the troposphere at 2.12 microns and the stratosphere at 2.16 microns.
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Credit: Aurore Simonnet, Sonoma State University/NASA EPO
An artist's representation of scattered energy near a black hole. Astronomers used a polaroid filter to see only the visible light coming from a black hole. As a result, they detected a new signal called a "Balmer Edge" feature that will allow the team to model temperatures and mass densities in the region near black holes. This technique of using polarized light has been used before to study the surface of the Sun, but never to see visible light from black holes
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Credit: Heidi Hammel, Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO/Imke de Pater, University of California, Berkeley/ W. M. Keck Observatory
The Power of Keck’s Adaptive Optics is demonstrated in two sets of exposures that compare Keck AO system off (left) to Keck AO system on (right). Upper: Uranus, its rings and moon Miranda at near infrared wavelengths of 2.2 microns. Lower: Uranus and its atmospheric details as seen in near infrared wavelengths of 1.6 microns. The image has been doubled in size. Date is Universal Time.
Credit: Lawrence Sromovsky, University of Wisconsin-Madison/ W. M. Keck Observatory
An infrared composite image of the two hemispheres of Uranus obtained with Keck adaptive optics. The component colors of blue, green, and red were obtained from images made at near infrared wavelengths of 1.26, 1.62, and 2.1 microns respectively. The images were obtained on July 11 and 12, 2004. The representative balance of these infrared images which were selected to display the vertical structure of atmospheric features gives a reddish tint to the rings, an artifact of the process. The North pole is at 4 o'clock.
Credit:
Imke de Pater, Heidi Hammel and Sarah Gibbard
The changing view of Uranus since 2000. As Uranus has moved to present a more edge-on view of its rings, the rings have become brighter and more distinct, revealing for the first time from Earth the innermost ring photographed only once before, by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. These near infrared images from the Keck II telescope also show gradual improvement in the telescope’s adaptive optics system, which removes atmospheric blurring.
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Credit: Illustration by Jon Lomberg
EF Eridanus - A Snapshot: A close-up view of the EF Eridanus system as it might appear today given that most of the radiation emitted by the system is in the infrared part of the specrum and not visible to the human eye.
Credit: Illustration by Jon Lomberg
EF Eridanus 500 Million Years Ago: Onset of mass transfer some 500 million years ago when the donor object (right), began losing mass to the compact yet more massive white dwarf companion (left). At the time of this illustration, the star system appeared much brighter in optical light than it does today.
Credit:
Illustration by Jon Lomberg
EF Eridanus 200 Million Years Ago: About 200 million years ago the donor object (right) has lost a significant amount of mass to its small dense companion (left) and has begun cooling significantly.
Credit:
Illustration by Jon Lomberg
EF Eridanus Present: The present day situation around donor object (right) where the small, dense white dwarf (center) has “consumed” much of its companion star’s mass and it is now a cool, dark ember about the size of Jupiter. Today most of the radiation from the system is emitted in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
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Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory
Narrow-field image of the Galactic Center at 3.8 microns (L prime) obtained with the Keck Laser Guide Star System on July 26, 2004. Strehl ratio at this wavelength was measured at 75%, double the previous performance at this wavelength. A Strehl ratio of 100% represents a perfect, fully-corrected image. The resolution is 82 milliarcseconds, the equivalent of being able to distinguish a pair of headlights in New York while standing in Los Angeles.
Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory
Narrow-field image of the Galactic Center. Exposures were obtained at 3.8 and 2.1 micron wavelengths, assigned a color, and combined to make a false-color image. Image is 10 arcseconds in size. At 2.1 microns, Strehl ratio was measured at 35%, a modest improvement, and the resolution was 56 milliarcseconds
Credit:
W. M. Keck Observatory
Scientists witnessed a giant flare as plasma material fell into the black hole on July 26, 2004.
Credit:
W. M. Keck Observatory
Individual frames of the plasma flare at 3.8 microns show the progression of events across a single hour. The frames read left to right, and the location of the black hole is marked in yellow. Select the image above image to see the full frame set.
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Credit: Challenger Center for Space Education
W. M. Keck Observatory has helped bring the Journey through the Universe program to Hilo, Hawaii.
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Credit: NASA (artist concept)
This artist's concept shows the newly discovered Neptune-sized extrasolar planet circling the star Gliese 436. The planet was discovered using data from the W. M. Keck Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
Credit: NASA/JPL (artist concept)
This illustration compares the size of the newfound Neptune-sized planets beyond our solar system to the sizes of Earth and Jupiter. Astronomers do not know if these planets are rocky, like Earth, or gaseous, like Jupiter. Rocky planets are smaller in diameter than gaseous ones of the same mass.
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Credit: Richard Wainscoat, Institute for Astronomy, UH Hawaii (c)
New findings from the Keck 10-meter twin telescopes will be presented at the 2004 Keck Science Meeting at the UCLA Campus at Moore Hall in Los Angeles on September 17.
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Credit: David A. Aguilar, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astronomy
The Keck I 10-meter telescope confirmed the discovery of a planet that crosses in front of its parent star, as seen from earth. This artist's conception of planet TrES-1, was the first to be discovered in a survey conducted by a network of small, relatively inexpensive telescopes. The telescopes provided the most promising candidates, and follow up observations at the W. M. Keck Observatory confirmed the detection.
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Credit: Michael Liu, IFA-Hawaii/W. M. Keck Observatory
Infrared image of the edge-on dust disk around the star AU Microscopii obtained with the Keck II Telescope. The disk is visible because its orbiting dust particles scatter the light of the star. The image is 100 Astronomical Units wide, about the size of our solar system. (One Astronomical Unit is the distance from the Earth to the Sun, about 93 million miles.) The black mask blocks out the inner 15 AU in radius and the optical artifacts from the bright central star. This is the sharpest image ever obtained of a circumstellar disk. Such disks are the birthplaces of planets.
Credit: Michael Liu, IFA-Hawaii/W. M. Keck Observatory
This panel shows an enlarged section of the dust disk surrounding star AU Microscopii.
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Credit: NASA Outrigger Telescope Project
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Credit: Sarah Anderson 2004
Akamai Observatory Short Course students Mari Okami, Ivan Won and Sean Hayworth study the spectrum that is projected on the wall of Room 131 as they puzzle over what they are observing in order to get an experiential understanding of the properties of light.
Credit: Sarah Anderson 2004
Akamai Observatory Short Course students watch the sunset from the Keck Observatory after spending the day investigating observatories on Mauna Kea.
Credit:
<Sarah Anderson 2004