News
News
GRAIN GROWTH IN ORION NEBULA PROTOPLANETARY DISKS
WASHINGTON, D. C. (January 6th, 2006) New observations of the Orion Nebula at infrared wavelengths reveal that small dust grains located in disks around young stars are growing, taking the initial steps toward forming planets despite bathing in a flood of radiation from highly luminous stars. The properties of dust in disks around young stars […]
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FAINT NEW RING DISCOVERED AROUND URANUS
BERKELEY, Calif. (December 22nd, 2005) Astronomers have made the first ground-based observations of one of two new rings discovered recently around the planet Uranus by the Hubble Space Telescope and announced today. The ground-based detection was conducted with the Near Infrared Camera (NIRC2) using the adaptive optics system on the Keck II telescope atop the […]
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PRECURSOR TO PROTEINS AND DNA FOUND IN STELLAR DISK
MAUNA KEA, Hawaii (December 20th, 2005) Astronomers at W. M. Keck Observatory have found – for the first time – some of the basic compounds necessary to build organic molecules and one of the bases found in DNA within the inner regions of a planet-forming disk. The object, known as “IRS 46,” is located in […]
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HIGH RES IMAGES OF GALACTIC CENTER
UCLA PRESS RELEASE (December 12th, 2005) UCLA astronomers and colleagues published the first high-resolution images of the center of our Milky Way galaxy, including the area surrounding the supermassive black hole, using a new technology at the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. “Everything is much clearer now,” said Andrea Ghez, UCLA professor of physics and […]
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NEW RESULTS SHOW EXPANSION RATE OF THE UNIVERSE IS INCREASING
CALTECH PRESS RELEASE (November 22nd, 2005) Based on an ongoing study of exploding stars in the distant universe, astrophysicists have concluded that the effect of the “dark energy” that is speeding up the expansion of the universe is within 10 percent of that of Albert Einstein’s celebrated cosmological constant. Cosmologists regard this result as a […]
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KECK RELEASES DATA OF GAMMA RAY BURST 051111
MAUNA KEA, Hawaii (November 16th, 2005) Spectral data of gamma-ray burst GRB 051111 were collected with the Keck I telescope on November 11, 2005 (UT). The data is available to the public at: GRB 051111 Data (compressed file) Astronomer Jason X. Prochaska of UC Santa Cruz determined that the redshift of the gamma-ray burst is […]
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HUDSON FOUNDATION INVESTS $75,000 IN W. M. KECK OBSERVATORY
KAMUELA, Hawaii (November 7th, 2005) The W. M. Keck Observatory received a grant of $75,000 from the M.R. and Evelyn Hudson Foundation to improve astronomy research and technology. The grant will support three programs at Keck Observatory: $28,000 for a summit employee breakfast program, $25,000 for a supplemental oxygen program for summit employees, and $22,000 […]
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MOON DISCOVERED ORBITING 10th PLANET (2003 UB313)
MAUNA KEA, Hawaii (October 3rd, 2005) Scientists are over the moon at the W. M. Keck Observatory and the California Institute of Technology over a new discovery of a satellite orbiting the Solar System’s 10th planet (2003 UB313). The newly discovered moon orbits the farthest object ever seen in the Solar System. The existence of […]
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MILESTONE FOR KECK INTERFEROMETER
JPL PRESS RELEASE (September 29th, 2005) Are we alone in the universe? Are there planets like Earth around other “suns” that might harbor life? Thanks to a recent technology breakthrough on a key NASA planet-finding project, the dream of answering those questions is no longer light-years away. On a crystal clear, star-filled night at Hawaii’s […]
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RESULTS FROM ‘DEEP IMPACT’ MISSION: MAUNA KEA’S GIANT EYES REUNITE COMET FAMILIES
MAUNA KEA, Hawaii (September 15th, 2005) When NASA’s Deep Impact mission ploughed into comet 9P/Tempel 1 on July 4th of this year, the giant telescopes on Mauna Kea had a unique view of the massive cloud of dust, gas and ice expelled during the collision. A series of coordinated observations, made under ideal conditions by […]
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