Keck Telescope

It is unfortunate that the headline accompanying your article on the W.M. Keck Observatory conveyed a misleading impression of the technical feasibility of the project (Science/Medicine, Jan. 30). The principal innovation in the Keck Telescope is the use of a primary mirror comprised of 36 hexagonal segments. With this approach, it became possible to consider building a telescope with four times the mirror area of the 200-inch Hale Telescope at the Palomar Observatory. Judging from the many milestones accomplished to date, the future of the Keck Telescope looks bright.

Caltech astronomers using the giant Keck Telescope in Hawaii said they have found glimpses of the most distant galaxies ever seen, a finding that will help provide clues to the origins of the universe. The light the researchers viewed originated when the universe was 500 million years old and has been traveling for billions of years, astronomer Richard Ellis said.

Scientists using the Keck II telescope in Hawaii say the surface of Saturn's moon Titan appears dry and not awash in oceans of liquid hydrocarbons as is commonly believed. The scientists reported in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature that they failed to see any reflections of sunlight that would indicate a body of liquid on the moon during several viewings in 2003 and 2004.

Scientists using the Keck II telescope in Hawaii say the surface of Saturn's moon Titan appears dry and not awash in oceans of liquid hydrocarbons as is commonly believed. The scientists reported in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature that they failed to see any reflections of sunlight that would indicate a body of liquid on the moon during several viewings in 2003 and 2004.

Scientists gathered Thursday atop a dormant volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii to celebrate the dawn of a new era in astronomy. The $94-million Keck Telescope, the first--and some say the boldest--in a new generation of superscopes, was dedicated during ceremonies on top of Mauna Kea. In a Hawaiian tradition, ground was "blessed" for a twin scope that will carry the study of the heavens to new heights.

There is growing concern among numerous experts that the Keck Telescope, destined to become the world's largest when it goes into operation in a couple of years, will not perform as well as had been hoped. The 10-meter instrument will be the most complex telescope on the planet, requiring revolutionary and unproven construction techniques and 36 separate mirrors that must be aligned 120 times a minute to function as a single mirror.

Caltech astronomers using the giant Keck Telescope in Hawaii said they have found glimpses of the most distant galaxies ever seen, a finding that will help provide clues to the origins of the universe. The light the researchers viewed originated when the universe was 500 million years old and has been traveling for billions of years, astronomer Richard Ellis said.

Howard B. Keck, an oil magnate and philanthropist who was chairman and president of the Superior Oil Co. and the W.M. Keck Foundation, has died. He was 83. Keck, who had retired from active work on the foundation a year ago, died Saturday in Santa Monica. The scion of Superior founder W.M. Keck Sr., Howard Keck worked from an early age in California oil fields along with his brother William and their father.

Scientists from Caltech and the University of California Tuesday released the first photograph taken by what will be the world's largest telescope when all 36 of its mirror segments are in place and working in concert in 1992. The Keck Telescope's "first light" photo of spiral galaxy NGC 1232, 65 million light years from Earth, was taken from the W. M. Keck Observatory atop 13,600-foot Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii, with just nine of its six-foot-wide hexagonal mirror segments in place.

Three U.S. institutions announced plans Monday to build a giant telescope in Chile that will be twice as powerful as the largest telescope now in the Southern Hemisphere. The 320-inch scope will be constructed at Las Campanas in the Chilean Andes on a site owned by the Carnegie Institution, which is paying half the cost for the new facility. The other partners are Johns Hopkins University and the University of Arizona.

When Ed Stevens drives the dusty track to this wind-swept summit atop Hawaii's Big Island, he tries hard not to see the gleaming white and silver telescope domes set starkly amid this dormant volcano's red rock. He tries not to see where precious cinder cones--homes to goddesses--were flattened and paved for the hulking Western machines. He tries not to see a blindingly white radio antenna dish within a stone's throw of an ancient rock shrine that resembles Stonehenge.

Pursuing a tip from a college sophomore in England, a California astronomer has discovered two new planets orbiting distant suns--raising the total number of known planets outside our solar system to 12. The discovery potentially brings dreams of inhabited worlds beyond the sun one step closer to reality. Although neither Jupiter-sized orb seems likely to support life, one of the new planets is the first found to orbit its star at a leisurely earthlike pace, with a 437-day year.

In the thin air of Mauna Kea's summit, 300 tons of glass and steel pirouette as silently as a ballerina. A mile below, marshmallow clouds turn sunset pink. The red glow of still-active volcanoes on the far side of Hawaii's Big Island gleams through the overcast. With a horrible crunch, the world's largest optical telescope drops its two jaw-like hatches one at a time, opening its twin throats to drink in starlight. The Keck telescope is ready to receive the universe.

Howard B. Keck, an oil magnate and philanthropist who was chairman and president of the Superior Oil Co. and the W.M. Keck Foundation, has died. He was 83. Keck, who had retired from active work on the foundation a year ago, died Saturday in Santa Monica. The scion of Superior founder W.M. Keck Sr., Howard Keck worked from an early age in California oil fields along with his brother William and their father.

Winds have been howling over the 13,794-foot summit of Mauna Kea for almost a week, frequently gusting above 100 m.p.h. A transmitter atop the dormant volcano blew down the night before, severing communications with workers at the construction site. A repair crew is refusing to make the long, twisting drive up the mountain under these conditions. More problems. Jerry Nelson props his bare feet on a computer table, picks up the phone and dials Terry Mast, a colleague on the W.M.

Scientists gathered Thursday atop a dormant volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii to celebrate the dawn of a new era in astronomy. The $94-million Keck Telescope, the first--and some say the boldest--in a new generation of superscopes, was dedicated during ceremonies on top of Mauna Kea. In a Hawaiian tradition, ground was "blessed" for a twin scope that will carry the study of the heavens to new heights.

Plans to build the world's largest optical telescope, so powerful it could detect a candle's flame on the surface of the moon, were announced Thursday at Caltech. The 400-inch instrument, funded by what was described as the largest private grant in history to a scientific project, will be built atop Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii.

Caltech will build a twin of the world's most sophisticated optical telescope, creating a facility that will enable astronomers to view galaxies as they were only a billion years after the creation of the universe, as the result of a $74.6-million grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation, university and foundation officials said Friday.

Caltech will build a twin of the world's most sophisticated optical telescope, creating a facility that will enable astronomers to view galaxies as they were only a billion years after the creation of the universe, as the result of a $74.6-million grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation, university and foundation officials said Friday.

Scientists from Caltech and the University of California Tuesday released the first photograph taken by what will be the world's largest telescope when all 36 of its mirror segments are in place and working in concert in 1992. The Keck Telescope's "first light" photo of spiral galaxy NGC 1232, 65 million light years from Earth, was taken from the W. M. Keck Observatory atop 13,600-foot Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii, with just nine of its six-foot-wide hexagonal mirror segments in place.