Double vision on Mauna Kea.The domes of eight telescopes dot the barren landscape atop Mauna Kea Mauna Kea (mou`nə kā`ə), dormant volcano, 13,796 ft (4,205 m) high, in the south central part of the island of Hawaii. It is the loftiest peak in the Hawaiian Islands and the highest island mountain in the world, rising c. , an extinct Hawaiian volcano. Reigning supreme among them for the last 4 years has been the 10-meter W.M. Keck Telescope. Now, the world's largest optical telescope has a partner. On May 8, astronomers and administrators gathered on Mauna Kea to celebrate the construction of Keck II. Like the original, Keck II uses a mirror composed of 36 hexagonal hex·ag·o·nal adj. 1. Having six sides. 2. Containing a hexagon or shaped like one. 3. Mineralogy glass tiles Glass tiles are pieces of glass formed into consistent shapes. Glass was used in mosaics as early as 2500 BC, but it took until the 3rd Century BC before innovative artisans in Greece, Persia and India created glass tiles. to form a parabolic par·a·bol·ic also par·a·bol·i·cal adj. 1. Of or similar to a parable. 2. Of or having the form of a parabola or paraboloid. reflecting surface equivalent to that of a single 10-meter mirror. The tiles are much thinner, lighter, and cheaper to manufacture than a solid mirror. The new telescope features three spectrographs, each with special capabilities. Its near-infrared spectrograph lets scientists analyze the light from faint celestial sources at wavelengths just slightly longer than those visible to the naked eye. Using another spectrograph, called DEIMOS, researchers plan to analyze the light from 100 objects simultaneously. The Eschelle spectrograph and imager spans an unusually broad range of infrared wavelengths. Using an adaptive optics system to compensate for the turbulence of Earth's atmosphere “Air” redirects here. For other uses, see Air (disambiguation). Earth's atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth and retained by the Earth's gravity. It contains roughly (by molar content/volume) 78% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0. , Keck II can also remove the twinkle from starlight. By adjusting individual tiles of the segmented mirror A segmented mirror is an array of smaller mirrors designed to act as a single, larger mirrored surface, usually used in large telescopes. Because current monolithic mirrors cannot be constructed larger than about eight meters in diameter, the use of segmented mirrors is a key 100 times a second, the telescope is expected to produce images with a resolution as sharp as 0.04 arc second in the near infrared. That's like distinguishing between two barely touching pennies viewed from a distance of 600 kilometers. Spaced 85 meters apart, Keck I and Keck II can make simultaneous observations of the same heavenly body. In that way, the paired instruments would act as a single, 85-meter telescope, a powerful tool for ferreting out planets hidden in the glare of their parent stars. The Keck II (left) and I (right) telescopes atop Mauna Kea. |
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