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Keck Interferometer Nuller Spots Double Dust Cloud
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 first time the Keck Interferometer Nuller instrument has identified such a compact cloud around a […]
Read More >Jupiter Adds a Feature
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 with the Keck II telescope, marks only the second time astronomers have seen such […]
Read More >New Method Finds Most Distant Supernovae
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 years ago. Studying the deaths of these early stars is essential to understanding the evolution […]
Read More >Enceladus Shows Little Sodium Leaving Scientists Questioning Existence of Underground Ocean
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 from a salty ocean just beneath Enceladus’ surface. The conclusion has left scientists uncertain about […]
Read More >Exoplanet’s Tilted Orbit Challenges Theories of Planet Formation
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 Observatory in Hawaii provide a clear, solid measurement of the planet’s distinctive tilt, determining the […]
Read More >Keck Laser Helps Astronomers Probe the Nature of Massive Galaxies in the Early Universe
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, provide astronomers with surprising clues about early star and galaxy formation at a time when […]
Read More >Berkeley Astronomers Lift Shroud on Dark Gamma Ray Bursts
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 and dust to reveal star formation and stellar death in the dusty corners of otherwise […]
Read More >Mysterious Space Blob Discovered at Cosmic Dawn
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 Himiko, sits nearly 13 billion light years from Earth and spans 55 thousand light years, […]
Read More >Cluster Heavyweights Caught in Cosmic Traffic Jam
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 discovery now provides scientists with a chance to watch what happens when some of the […]
Read More >Keck and Kepler Team up To Find Other Earths
KAMUELA, HI — 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 using Keck I’s ten-meter astronomical eye to discover distant Earths. Kepler will pick out […]
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