Dec 23, 2009
MAUNA KEA, HI—Astronomers using the W. M. Keck Observatory have peered far into a young planetary system, giving an unprecedented view of dust and gas that might eventually form worlds similar to Jupiter, Venus or even Earth. “Because the gas,…
Dec 14, 2009
MAUNA KEA, HI—Planet hunters using the W. M. Keck Observatory have identified at least six low-mass planets around two nearby, Sun-like stars. Two of the planets are five and 7.5 times the mass of Earth. These “super-Earths” are the first…
Dec 8, 2009
MAUNA KEA, HI—Astronomers at the W. M. Keck Observatory are using a technique called interferometry to provide new information about central black hole systems in galaxies. Makoto Kishimoto, of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, and…
Dec 2, 2009
Berkeley, Calif. – A discovery of an extraordinarily bright, extraordinarily long-lasting supernova named SN 2007bi turns out to be the first known example of the earliest types of stars that populated the Universe. The unusually luminous supernova could provide astronomers…
Nov 25, 2009
KAMUELA, HI—Astronomers using the W. M. Keck Observatory and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope have identified two distinct groups of stars within the Milky Way Galaxy’s globular cluster Terzan 5. The two stellar populations have different ages and…
Nov 9, 2009
BERKELEY, CA—An unusual supernova rediscovered in seven-year-old data taken at the W. M. Keck Observatory and Lick Observatory may be the first example of a new type of exploding star, possibly in a binary star system where helium flows from…
Oct 9, 2009
KAMUELA, HI—On Oct. 9, astronomers at the W. M. Keck Observatory used the Keck II telescope to search for water harbored in the Moon’s permanently shadowed craters. The observations were made as part of the Observatory’s participation in NASA’s Lunar…
Sep 24, 2009
KAMUELA, Hawaii (Sept. 24, 2009) — Linking the twin, 10-meter telescopes in Hawaii, astronomers at the W. M. Keck Observatory discovered an extended, double-layered dust disk orbiting 51 Ophiuchi, a star that is 410 light-years from Earth. It is the…
Jul 20, 2009
Mauna Kea, Hawai’i—Jupiter’s got a brand new mark. Something slammed into the gas giant leaving a dark bruise in the planet’s atmosphere, scientists at Keck Observatory confirmed early on the morning of July 20 Hawaiian Standard Time. The observation, made…
Jul 8, 2009
Mauna Kea, Hawai’i—Astronomers have yet again rewritten the record books for discovering the most distant supernovae. Using Hawaii’s W. M. Keck Observatory and Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), a team has identified remnants of two massive stars that exploded roughly 11 billion…
Jun 24, 2009
One of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus, appears to be missing some sodium. The new observations made at the W. M. Keck Observatory suggest that the plumes of gas and ice seen exploding from the moon are not fueled by geysers erupting…
Jun 24, 2009
An international team of astronomers has discovered an exoplanet whose orbit is steeply tilted from the plane of the star’s equator, a finding that contradicts theories about how planetary systems form. The new observations conducted at the W. M. Keck…
Jun 9, 2009
PASADENA, Calif.—Astronomers using the W. M. Keck Observatory have discovered distant galaxies as massive as the Milky Way yet ten to 1000 times more compact. The new results, announced June 9 at the 214th American Astronomical Society meeting in Pasadena,…
Jun 9, 2009
PASADENA, Calif.—Astronomers using the Keck telescopes may have solved the mystery of dark gamma ray bursts—intense flashes of X-ray and gamma-ray radiation that have little to no optical signature. The observations have allowed the astronomers to peer through celestial gas…
Apr 22, 2009
Astronomers using a suite of telescopes including the W. M. Keck Observatory have discovered a giant gas object that may be one of the earliest ancestors of a forming galaxy. This object, dubbed an extended Lyman-Alpha blob and identified as…
Apr 21, 2009
Astronomers have recently identified the Universe’s most crowded cosmic free-way, where monster galaxy clusters are slamming together in one of the largest collisions ever recorded. Pinpointing such a pile-up required data from three of the world’s best telescopes, and the…
Mar 9, 2009
Kamuela, Hawaii— For nearly a decade, Cal-Berkeley astronomer Geoff Marcy and his colleagues have been using the W. M. Keck telescopes to discover giant planets orbiting distant stars. Now, with the successful launch of NASA’s Kepler mission, they will be…
Jan 20, 2009
Hawai‘i Island, HI – The public is invited to attend The Maunakea 2009 Lecture Series, free monthly lectures throughout 2009 hosted by ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center and W. M. Keck Observatory to introduce Hawai’i astronomy and the latest research being done…
Jan 15, 2009
WASHINGTON—A team of NASA and university scientists has achieved the first definitive detection of methane in the atmosphere of Mars. This discovery indicates the planet is either biologically or geologically active. The team found methane in the Martian atmosphere by…
Jan 6, 2009
LONG BEACH, CA (January 6th, 2009) The brilliant afterglow of a powerful gamma-ray burst (GRB) has enabled astronomers to probe the star-forming environment of a distant galaxy, resulting in the first detection of molecular gas in a GRB host galaxy.…
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