News
News
Astronomers Find Most Distant Known Galaxies
Pasadena, Calif. (July 10th, 2007) Using natural “gravitational lenses,” an international team of astronomers claim to have found the first traces of a population of the most distant galaxies yet seen-the light we see from them today left more than 13 billion years ago, when the universe was just 500 million years old. Team leader […]
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Astronomers Measure Mass of Largest Dwarf Planet
Baltimore (June 14th, 2007) W. M. Keck Observatory and NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have teamed up to precisely measure the mass of Eris, the largest member of a new class of dwarf planets in our solar system. Eris has 27 percent more mass than Pluto, formerly the largest member of the Kuiper Belt of icy […]
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‘OLYMPIAN GALAXY’ NEAR ANDROMEDA GIVES CLUES TO HOW GALAXIES FORM
Honolulu (May 28th, 2007) A newly discovered dwarf galaxy in the Local Group has been found to have formed in a region of space far from our own and is falling into our system for the first time in its history, according to new data obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory. An international team […]
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Adaptive optics pinpoints two supermassive black holes in colliding galaxies
Santa Cruz (May 17th, 2007) Astronomers have used powerful adaptive optics technology at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii to reveal the precise locations and environments of a pair of supermassive black holes at the center of an ongoing collision between two galaxies 300 million light-years away. The new observations of the galaxy merger […]
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Brightest Supernova Ever Seen
Berkeley (May 7th, 2007) An exploding star first observed last September is the largest and most luminous supernova ever seen, according to University of California, Berkeley, astronomers, and may be the first example of a type of massive exploding star rare today but probably common in the very early universe. Unlike typical supernovas that reach […]
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“Red Square” Captured by Palomar and Keck Telescopes
Pasadena (April 11th, 2007) Astronomers announced the arrival of a new member in the pantheon of exotically beautiful celestial objects. Christened the “Red Square” by Peter Tuthill, leader of the team, the image was compiled with data from the 200-inch Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory, owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology, and […]
Read More >Fundamental Property of Galaxies Discovered at W. M. Keck Observatory
Kamuela (March 6th, 2007) A new study using data collected by the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii has revealed that certain fundamental properties of galaxies have actually changed very little over the last 8 billion years, nearly half of the age of the universe. According to the research, the relationship between a galaxy’s mass […]
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‘Comet Galaxy’ Ripped Apart by Galaxy Cluster
Garching, Germany (March 2nd, 2007) The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, in collaboration with several other ground- and space-based telescopes including Keck, has captured a galaxy being ripped apart by a galaxy cluster’s gravitational field and harsh environment. The finding sheds light on the mysterious process by which gas-rich spiral-shaped galaxies might evolve into gas-poor irregular- […]
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Earthquake Update from W. M. Keck Observatory
Kamuela (February 28th, 2007) The Observatory has returned to standard operating procedures after a 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck off the west coast of Hawaii October 15, 2006. The earthquake was the largest to hit Hawaii in 20 years. There were no injuries at W. M. Keck Observatory and no damage to the mirrors or optical systems […]
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Large Survey Identifies Young Binaries To Test Models Of Star Formation
Seattle (January 10th, 2007) Results from the largest survey of its kind conducted at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii provide data to test theories describing how small, relatively cool, but numerous “M-class” stars are born and change over time. The results will help scientists understand how the most common type of stars in […]
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