Cosmic Matters Blog » Technology

NSF Awards $1.72 Million to Improve Keck I Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics

Aug 11, 2010

The W. M. Keck Observatory has received a $1.72 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to design the first near-infrared tip-tilt sensor used to correct for the turbulence in Earth’s atmosphere. The improvements will increase the sensitivity and resolution of the Keck I telescope, which already allows astronomers to resolve in the near-infrared as much detail or more as the Hubble Space Telescope resolves in visible light.

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A Mirror’s Perfect Reflection

May 28, 2010

If you think washing the mirrors and windows in your home is a daunting task, imagine cleaning two of the largest light-collecting surfaces in the astronomy world—the twin 10-meter Keck telescope mirrors. There are two methods to maintain the mirrors’ perfect reflection, and they involve much more than Windex.

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