Keck Observatory Donor Salon: Liger: A next-generation instrument for Keck Adaptive Optics

Guest Speaker:

Dr. Shelley Wright

Associate Professor in Physics

University of California at San Diego

Keck Adaptive Optics (AO) has been revolutionary in making profound discoveries about our Universe like the first-ever directly-imaged extrasolar planets and our fundamental understanding of the supermassive black hole at our Galactic Center. In this next decade the Keck team is rapidly upgrading the AO system to include better on-sky performance for scientists to exploit. Dr. Wright will describe the latest efforts to develop an innovative new instrument, known as Liger, that will take direct advantage of the new Keck AO system with advanced imaging cameras and innovative spectrographs. Liger will be able to unlock previously inaccessible science across a wide range of the cosmos, such as dark matter substructure, supermassive black holes, the Galactic Center, and exoplanet atmospheres. Dr. Wright will discuss the science possibilities coming with this exciting future Keck instrument.

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The staff and management of the W. M. Keck Observatory wish to offer our deepest gratitude to our Astronomy Talk Series sponsors, Rob and Terry Ryan.