#keck observatory

Rich Matsuda is the first Hawaiʻi-born director of Keck Observatory, and the second local-born director of an observatory that operates on Maunakea.

New results from the Keck Cosmic Web Imager, or KCWI, which was designed by Caltech’s Edward C. Stone Professor of Physics Christopher Martin and his team, are the first to show direct light emitted by the largest and most hidden portion of the cosmic web: the crisscrossing wispy filaments that stretch across the darkest corners of space between galaxies. The KCWI instrument is based at the W. M. Keck Observatory atop Maunakea on the Big Island.

With the help of the W. M. Keck Observatory atop Maunakea on the Big Island, astronomers for the first time have observed direct evidence for a scenario they already knew happens throughout the universe — an aging star engulfing planets on inner orbits around it.

After a 37-year career, Hilton Lewis is stepping down from his position as the director of the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea.

“What this discovery gives is an insight into the dynamic, often violent early histories of galaxies,” a Keck Observatory scientist said.

While at least one person in East Hawai‘i wondered Wednesday if anyone had Noah’s phone number so they could ask if there’s room left on the ark as rain continued to drench parts of the Big Island, those who work at the frigid 13,803-foot summit of Maunakea faced yet another round of snow and ice.

On Wednesday night, a new planet-hunting instrument at the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea achieved “first light,” capturing its first data from the sky, a spectrum of the planet Jupiter.

Dr. Peter Wizinowich, chief of technical development at W. M. Keck Observatory, has been awarded the 2022 American Astronomical Society Joseph Weber Award for Astronomical Instrumentation.

For the very first time, astronomers have imaged in real time the dramatic end to a red supergiant’s life, watching the massive star’s rapid self-destruction and final death throes before it collapsed into a Type II supernova.

An international team of astronomers has captured the very first evidence of a new type of supernova.

Astronomers have discovered a massive star cluster in the Andromeda Galaxy, the closest large galaxy to our Milky Way, that is anemic.

W.M. Keck Observatory is hosting an astronomy talk on one of the field’s most prevalent problems.

W.M. Keck Observatory Chief Scientist John O’Meara will present In Search of the Ultimate Ruler: The Grand Challenge of Distances in Astronomy on Sept. 13.

Three times the mass of Jupiter, a first-of-its-kind planet swings around its star on bizarre, slingshot path.

An astronomy talk story about the groundbreaking results from the Event Horizon Telescope and the pioneering role Maukea Observatories played is set for Aug. 15.

Einstein’s 1915 theory holds that what we perceive as the force of gravity arises from the curvature of space and time. The scientist proposed that objects such as the sun and the Earth change this geometry.

In remembrance of Jerry Nelson’s legacy, observatory personnel spent the next year after his passing capturing his story in a documentary.

Riley Atkinson is the first Kāpili ʻOihana intern to be placed at the WM Keck Observatory on Maunakea.

After drawing both praise and skepticism, the team of astronomers who discovered NGC 1052-DF2, are back with stronger evidence about its bizarre nature.

A team of astronomers led by the UCO has studied in great detail a galaxy so faint and in such pristine condition it has acted as a time capsule.