Brittany Griner

Fiona Ward

Antoine Henderson

KECK

WHAT IS KECK?• The W.M. Keck Observatory is

made up of two 10-meter telescopes

• Located on Mauna Kea Volcano in Hawaii

• No nearby mountain ranges, few city lights, dry atmosphere= little air/light pollution

• Managed by the University of California and the California Institute of Technology

THE TELESCOPES• Keck I (1993) and Keck II (1996) are the world’s

largest optical and infrared telescopes

• Both are 8 stories tall, weigh 300 tons, and operate with nanometer precision

• 10 meters in diameter

• Composed of 36 hexagonal segments that work together as a single piece of reflective glass

THE TELESCOPES• To reduce deformation of the telescopes’ steel and

mirrors, the domes are kept at or below freezing

• The volume of each dome is more than 700,000 cubic feet

• Giant air conditioners run constantly during the day

ALTITUDE-AZIMUTH DESIGN

• Altitude-azimuth design:

• Measures the horizontal distance in sky

THE MIRRORS• 36 Hexagonal Segments

• Computer-controlled system of sensors and actuators adjusts the position of each segment to an accuracy of four nanometers, about the size of a few molecules, or about 1/25,000 the diameter of a human hair. This twice-per-second adjustment effectively counters the tug of gravity.

ADAPTIVE OPTICS• Advances in optical and computing technology

have made it possible to greatly reduce blurring through the use of “adaptive optics” (AO)

• A 6-inch-wide deformable mirror changes its shape up to 2,000 times per second to cancel out atmospheric distortion

• Resulting images are 10 times sharper than previous images

• AO systems allow for far greater detail than ever before

Secondary Mirror Motion