News
News
W. M. Keck Observatory Launches Electrician Apprenticeship Program for Hawaiʻi Community College Students
Maunakea, Hawaiʻi Island — W. M. Keck Observatory in collaboration with Hawaiʻi Community College is excited to announce a new apprenticeship program for kamaʻāina students pursuing a career as licensed electricians. The three-year pilot program provides highly specialized technical training and commercial work experience to students enrolled in Hawaiʻi Community College’s Electrical Installation and Maintenance […]
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Astronomers Snap First Confirmed Direct Image of a Brown Dwarf Orbiting a Star in the Hyades Cluster
Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – A team of astronomers using two Maunakea Observatories in Hawaiʻi – W. M. Keck Observatory and Subaru Telescope – have photographed a brown dwarf orbiting HIP 21152, a young Sun-like star in the Hyades Cluster. Located just 150 light-years away, Hyades is the closest star cluster to Earth in the constellation Taurus; […]
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A Pair of Black Holes Dining Together in Nearby Galaxy Merger
Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – While studying a nearby pair of merging galaxies, scientists discovered two supermassive black holes growing simultaneously near the center of the newly coalescing galaxy, dubbed UGC 4211. These super-hungry giants are the closest together that scientists have ever observed in multiple wavelengths. What’s more, the new research reveals that binary black holes […]
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Surprise Kilonova Upends Established Understanding of Long Gamma-ray Bursts
Long Gamma-ray Bursts Can Be Generated by Neutron Star Mergers, Study Finds Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – For nearly two decades, astrophysicists have believed that long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) resulted solely from the collapse of massive stars. Now, a new study upends that long-established and long-accepted belief. Led by Northwestern University, a team of astrophysicists have uncovered […]
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NASA Releases New JWST and W. M. Keck Observatory Images of Titan, Saturn’s Moon
Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – From space with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and on the ground with the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi Island, astronomers have tag-teamed to capture a set of extraordinary images revealing large clouds in the northern hemisphere of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. “Detecting clouds is exciting because it validates […]
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W. M. Keck Observatory Sets Climate Action Goal: Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2035
Kamuela/Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – Compelled by the urgent need to take critical action on the global climate crisis, W. M. Keck Observatory has set a goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2035, as outlined in a recent report published in the journal Nature Astronomy. “We are serious about being good stewards of our precious environment,” said […]
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Tracing the Origins of Rare, Cosmic Explosions
Astronomers Produce the Most Robust Catalog to Date of Short Gamma-Ray Burst Hosts Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – A team of astronomers led by Northwestern University has created the most extensive inventory yet of the galaxies where short gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs) come from. Using several highly sensitive instruments at W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi and […]
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W. M. Keck Observatory Achieves First Light with Keck Planet Finder
Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – A new planet-hunting instrument at W. M. Keck Observatory has achieved “first light,” capturing its first data from the sky and marking an exciting chapter in the search for Earth-sized planets around other stars, which are extraordinarily difficult to detect due to their small size. Operating on the Keck I Telescope on […]
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New Record: Nearest Known Black Hole to Earth Discovered
Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – Astronomers using two Maunakea Observatories, W. M. Keck Observatory and the Gemini North telescope, have found the closest known black hole to our planet. Located a mere 1,560 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Ophiuchus, the black hole, named Gaia BH1, is three times closer to us than the previous record-holder. […]
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Massive Stars’ Blasts Hitting Orion’s “Sword” Mapped in Unprecedented Detail Using Hawaiʻi Telescope
Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – Astronomers using W. M. Keck Observatory on Hawaiʻi Island have captured from Maunakea the most detailed and complete images ever taken of the zone where the famed constellation of Orion gets zapped with ultraviolet (UV) radiation from massive young stars. This irradiated neutral zone, called a Photo-Dissociation Region (PDR), is located in […]
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