Media
Cosmic Videos
Keck Observatory Donor Salon: Imaging Other Worlds: Today and Tomorrow
Guest Speaker: Dr. Michael Liu Astronomer University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy Direct imaging is a key method to study planets around other stars, a.k.a. exoplanets. Thanks to both astronomical and instrumental advances, the largest ground-based telescopes can now obtain images and spectra of gas-giant (Jupiter-like) planets. Dr. Liu will share what these studies with […]
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Keck Observatory Donor Salon: The World’s Most Powerful Pair of Eyeglasses: Keck Adaptive Optics
Guest Speaker: Dr. Jim Lyke Adaptive Optics Operations Lead Astronomer Keck Observatory Dr. Lyke will give a fun and informative overview of Keck’s productive use of a technology that sharpens its view of the universe. Adaptive Optics (AO) is central to many of Keck’s greatest discoveries. Get ready to enjoy some of Keck’s best images […]
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Keck Observatory Donor Salon: Galaxies Viewed Through Cosmic Magnifying Glasses
Guest Speaker: Dr. Tucker Jones Astronomy Professor University of California at Davis The gravitational field of massive objects distorts space and time, even acting as a “gravitational lens” by deflecting the path of light. This phenomenon serves as a natural magnifying glass to provide unparalleled views of the distant universe. Although strong lens systems are […]
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Astronomy Talk: Decoding the Contents of Distant Galaxies
Guest Speaker: Alice Shapley Professor and Vice Chair for Astronomy and Astrophysics University of California, Los Angeles Our Milky Way is one of countless galaxies in the universe. Understanding the formation and evolution of galaxies remains one of the great challenges of modern cosmology. Key outstanding questions include: What drives stars to form in individual […]
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Keck Observatory Donor Salon: Using Keck to Explore Planetary Systems Orbiting Nearby Stars
Guest Speaker: Dr. Courtney Dressing Astronomy Professor University of California at Berkeley The search for extrasolar planets has uncovered a dizzying array of planetary systems. We have found new planet types — lava worlds and super-Earths – as well as planets orbiting more than one star. These discoveries give us tantalizing clues about how our […]
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Keck Observatory Donor Salon: Searching for Earth-like Planets with the Keck Planet Finder
Guest Speaker: Dr. Andrew Howard Astronomy Professor California Institute of Technology The search for extrasolar planets has uncovered a dizzying array of planetary systems. We have found new planet types — lava worlds and super-Earths – as well as planets orbiting more than one star. These discoveries give us tantalizing clues about how our Solar […]
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Astronomy Talk: Kepler, TESS, and Keck Observatory – Driving Our Understanding of Exoplanetary Systems
Guest Speaker: David Ciardi Chief Scientist NASA Exoplanet Science Institute Launched in 2009, NASA’s Kepler revolutionized our understanding of other worlds by discovering thousands of exoplanet systems. 10 years after Kepler ended, NASA launched TESS to continue the revolution by finding planets around brighter, nearby stars. Ground-based telescopes have been critical to understanding the planets […]
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Keck Observatory Donor Salon: Planet Nine from Outer Space
Guest Speaker: Dr. Michael Brown Richard and Barbara Rosenberg Professor of Planetary Astronomy California Institute of Technology Five years ago, Dr. Brown and his team proposed that unexpected perturbations to the most distant known objects in our solar system could be explained by the existence of an unseen giant planet well beyond Neptune, gently tugging […]
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Keck Observatory Donor Salon: SCALES: A New Keck Instrument for Imaging Exoplanets at 1000 Wavelengths Simultaneously
Guest Speaker: Dr. Andry Skemer Associate Professor, Astronomy and Physics University of California Santa Cruz Exoplanets are a class of astrophysical objects, like stars and galaxies, where a wide range of detection and characterization methods are necessary to understand their individual and collective properties. We live in an era where thousands of exoplanets have been […]
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Astronomy Talk: A Night in the Life of Keck Observatory
Guest Speaker: John O’Meara Chief Scientist, W. M. Keck Observatory You’ve seen the discoveries, but how are they made? In this presentation, we follow the process of Keck Observatory’s science, from proposal to publication. Along the way, we’ll learn how our Hawaii staff prepares the Keck I and Keck II telescopes, configures the instruments, and […]
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