Dr. Chris Martin of Caltech explains the ongoing mission to directly observe the vast filaments of gas that connect clusters of galaxies, feed galaxies and create a vast web of matter that connects all matter in the universe. This lecture was delivered on April 10, 2012, at the Fairmont Orchid on the Island of Hawaii to an enthusiastic audience of Keck Observatory supporters.
The W. M. Keck Observatory operates two 10-meter optical/infrared telescopes on the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. The twin telescopes feature a suite of advanced instruments including imagers, multi-object spectrographs, high-resolution spectrographs, integral-field spectroscopy and a world-leading laser guide star adaptive optics system which cancels out much of the interference caused by Earth?s turbulent atmosphere. The Observatory is a private 501(c) 3 non-profit organization and a scientific partnership of the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and NASA.