Postcard from the Summit – Tools
Tag: Keck
Kepler Gets a Little Help From Its Friends
Kepler’s follow-up observers confirm new discoveries
More than 2,300 exoplanet candidate discoveries have made it the most prolific planet hunter in history. But even NASA’s Kepler mission needs a little help from its friends.
A single Kepler observation alone is often not enough to prove that the telescope has found an exoplanet, said Nick Gautier, the mission’s deputy project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., who coordinated and continues to help run Kepler’s robust follow-up program.
Kepler finds exoplanets by watching for worlds that move directly between the telescope and their host stars. As they do this, they block a tiny fraction of the star’s light, an event astronomers call a “transit.”
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Keck Week is Coming
W. M. Keck Observatory press release…
This Spring, the W. M. Keck Observatory is throwing a weeklong party called Keck Week 2013, to celebrate the observatory’s first twenty years of high-impact, game-changing astronomical discoveries from the venerable twin-domes on the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The festivities will take place in several Kohala Coast resort venues as well as in the town of Kamuela and will mark a distinctive confluence of the brightest minds in astronomy alongside our country’s most significant scientific philanthropists. Early registration lasts until December 20th, offering a 30 percent discount off all events.
Keck Week 2013 will open March 14th at The Fairmont Orchid, with the Keck Observatory 20th Anniversary Science Meeting – a rare, two-day binge of astronomy discourse and finely honed presentations describing Keck’s legacy discoveries. On March 16th, Keck Week will peak with a Star Struck Fundraising Gala, a grand evening at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai and feature a live auction of spectacular items, a gourmet dinner, live music and dancing, and remarks by special guests. Other events planned for Keck Week 2013 include:
- “Astronomy Live! Tonight” – Enjoy a hosted reception under the stars with Keck’s most popular astronomers, star gazing, a live feed from the summit and much more;
- “Welcome to Our Universe – Keck Observatory’s Open House” – Explore and discover the science and engineering of the Keck Observatory with exhibits and hands-on activities developed by the professional staff at Keck;
- Keck Tennis Match – Watch Keck astronomers out-parallax their Friends of Keck competitors on the court;
- Contact! – A free showing of the feature film on the big screen; and
- Hawai’i Astronomy – Visit Hawai’i’s other astronomical centers.
Postcard from the Summit – Hard Headed
Working the Weather
One of the little side jobs I have gotten assigned at Keck is updating the weather station. This involves replacing all of the weather monitoring equipment that allows the operators to keep an eye on conditions around the telescopes. This gear is absolutely critical, giving the operators the data they need to protect our equipment, including the irreplaceable mirrors.
It has been fun to learn about measuring temperature, humidity, dew point and more. It seems so simple at first, but the complications of getting a good reading are subtle. Passive instrument shelters, active ventilation, instrument positioning, calibration and more. Issues that can make a good instrument give bad data.
Last week I installed a new barometric sensor. This was the last part of the existing weather instrument suite that needed to be replaced. I got lucky, it was a great day on the summit, sunny with just a modest breeze. Just the day to spend a couple hours hanging off the weather mast in a climbing harness rewiring a junction box for the new cables. A few holes to drill, a few bolts, a couple cables… done!
My next item is to install an anemometer. We have not had an operational anemometer in many years and our observing staff has made it abundantly clear that they want an anemometer. Not that this one will be easy, it is a bit of a challenge to get a decent wind reading anywhere near a 100ft diameter dome. This challenge will be a bit more involved, and involve some good engineering fun. Time to learn about measuring wind-speed and how to do it right. Looking forward to the next part of the plan!
Found: One Planet Orbiting Sun-like Star. Only Twelve Light Years Away
W. M. Keck Observatory press release…
An international team of astronomers using the W. M. Keck Observatory and other telescopes, has discovered that Tau Ceti, one of the closest and most Sun-like stars, may host five planets – with one in the elusive ‘Goldilocks Zone’.
The international team of astronomers, from the UK, Chile, the USA, and Australia, combined more than 6,000 observations from three different instruments, including HIRES on the Keck I telescope. Using new techniques, the team has found a method to detect signals half the size previously thought possible. This greatly improves the sensitivity of searches for small planets and suggests that Tau Ceti is not a lone star but has a planetary system.
Continue reading “Found: One Planet Orbiting Sun-like Star. Only Twelve Light Years Away”
Astronomers Go Infrared to Map Brightest Galaxies in Universe
W. M. Keck Observatory press release…
A group of astronomers from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the U.S. Mainland, Canada, and Europe recently used the twin telescopes of the W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, to conduct a census of the brightest, but until now unseen, galaxies in the distant Universe, bringing astronomers one step closer to understanding how galaxies form and evolve.
While it’s not clear what gives these galaxies their intense luminosity, it could be the result of a collision between two spiral-type galaxies, similar to the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies. Or they could be in a particularly gas-rich region of space, where galaxies form stars quickly due to constant bombardment from gas and dust.
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Keck Lecture Reminder
Günther Hasinger
University of Hawai’i
Black Holes and the Fate of the Universe
The character and distribution of stellar and supermassive black holes is a fascinating and rapidly changing area of astronomy research. Recently, the W. M. Keck Observatory has confirmed supermassive black holes are in the centers of most nearby galaxies, including our own Milky Way. A tight relationship exists between black hole mass and the properties of their host galaxies. New instrument capabilities, like those planned at Keck, will reveal even more about the nature of black holes and how they play a role in the ongoing evolution of the universe and everything in it.
7:00 PM
Gates Performing Arts Center Auditorium
Hawaii Preparatory Academy
65-1692 Kohala Mtn. Rd., Waimea
Seating is limited to first come, first served.
Doors Open at 6:30 PM
Free and Open to the Public
Lowell Astronomer Prints Roadmap for Planet Hunters
W. M. Keck Observatory press release…
Lowell astronomer Evgenya Shkolnik and her collaborators have published a set of directions for searching out exoplanets, using W. M. Keck Observatory spectroscopy.
Their paper, recently published in The Astrophysical Journal, examined new and existing data from stars and brown dwarfs that are less than 300 million years old, as determined from strong X-ray emission readings. In all, the authors identified 144 young targets for exoplanet searches, with 20 very strong candidates, according to Dr. Shkolnik. This candidate list is being searched for planets with Gemini’s NICI Planet-Finding Campaign and the Planets Around Low-Mass Stars survey, led by astronomer Michael Liu and graduate student Brendan Bowler, respectively, both at the Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai‘i.
Continue reading “Lowell Astronomer Prints Roadmap for Planet Hunters”
Keck Astronomy Lecture
Günther Hasinger
University of Hawai’i
Black Holes and the Fate of the Universe
The character and distribution of stellar and supermassive black holes is a fascinating and rapidly changing area of astronomy research. Recently, the W. M. Keck Observatory has confirmed supermassive black holes are in the centers of most nearby galaxies, including our own Milky Way. A tight relationship exists between black hole mass and the properties of their host galaxies. New instrument capabilities, like those planned at Keck, will reveal even more about the nature of black holes and how they play a role in the ongoing evolution of the universe and everything in it.
7:00 PM
Gates Performing Arts Center Auditorium
Hawaii Preparatory Academy
65-1692 Kohala Mtn. Rd., Waimea
Seating is limited to first come, first served.
Doors Open at 6:30 PM
Free and Open to the Public