Videos

Explore the people, places, and discoveries that bring Keck Observatory’s mission to life.

What’s it like working for the world’s largest optical and infrared telescopes?

Meet James Chongs and Ash Hooks, Infrastructure Technicians at Keck Observatory. Every day, the Infrastructure team helps care for the facilities and environment that supports world-leading astronomy. Their work reflects a commitment to service and stewardship, expressed through the care they bring to the Observatory, the respect they show for ʻāina, and the communities that shape them.

Behind the Mirror: Inside a Keck Segment Exchange

Every mirror segment plays a critical role in Keck’s scientific discoveries.

Go behind the scenes of a Keck segment exchange and experience the coordination, expertise, and attention to detail required to maintain the performance of the world’s largest optical and infrared telescopes.

Astronomy Talk
Intergalactic Immigration

Intergalactic Immigration

The majority of atoms in the Milky Way, including on our planet, did not originate within our own galaxy and …
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Keck Observatory Donor Salon Talk
First Images of Exoplanets With the Webb Telescope and a Look Forward to Keck's New Exoplanet Imager

First Images of Exoplanets With the Webb Telescope and a Look Forward to Keck’s New Exoplanet Imager

This past summer at UC Santa Cruz, an international team of astronomers assembled to produce the first images and spectra …
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Astronomy Talk
Getting a Sharp Look at Dark Matter

Getting a Sharp Look at Dark Matter

Look around you. Everything that is familiar to us, what we would call “normal” matter, makes up just a tiny …
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Astronomy Talk
Searching for Distant Galaxies Using Keck and JWST

Searching for Distant Galaxies Using Keck and JWST

We’ll go on a journey of discovery that started with a small blip in Hubble images, became a fully-confirmed galaxy …
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Keck Observatory Donor Salon
Discovering Planets With the Keck Planet Finder

Discovering Planets With the Keck Planet Finder

Keck Observatory’s newest instrument is the Keck Planet Finder (KPF), a spectrometer that will allow for the discovery of smaller …
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Astronomy Talk
The Sound of Stars

The Sound of Stars

Although we cannot hear it with our own ears, the Sun and other stars in the sky have been performing …
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Keck Observatory Donor Salon
Unveiling Outflowing Galactic Winds with the Keck Cosmic Web Imager

Unveiling Outflowing Galactic Winds with the Keck Cosmic Web Imager

In this talk, research will be presented that Dr. Coil and collaborators have been leading on extremely fast outflowing galactic …
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Keck Observatory Donor Salon
Forming Stars, Planets, and Scientists: Keck’s Transformative Role in Both Science and Education

Forming Stars, Planets, and Scientists: Keck’s Transformative Role in Both Science and Education

The birth of stars is a complex and dynamic process, one that leads eventually to the formation of planets and …
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Astronomy Talk
Truth is Stranger than (Science) Fiction

Truth is Stranger than (Science) Fiction

We speculated about the existence of planets orbiting other Suns for hundreds, if not thousands of years before their existence …
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Astronomy Talk
Origin of Earth's Water

Origin of Earth’s Water

No one knows if our solar system, with a planet possessing the necessary ingredients for life within our Sun’s habitable …
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Keck Observatory Donor Salon
The Status of Major Instrumentation Projects at Keck Observatory

The Status of Major Instrumentation Projects at Keck Observatory

In this talk, Dr. Kassis provides a status update on instrument development activities for projects delivering to the observatory. This …
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Keck Observatory Donor Salon
Towards the Direct Imaging of Habitable Exoplanets with Extremely Large Telescopes

Towards the Direct Imaging of Habitable Exoplanets with Extremely Large Telescopes

Fifty-three years ago, 600 million people watched the Apollo 11 astronauts take the first human steps on another world. In …
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