Keck is a leg of Around the World in 80 Telescopes tour: Click to play; click  (lower right) to view video full screen Next stop: JCMT Telescope (previous stop: UKIRT)

From a remote outpost on the summit of Hawaii’s dormant Mauna Kea volcano, astronomers at the W. M. Keck Observatory probe the deepest regions of the Universe with unprecedented power and precision.

Photo: The Keck Observatory as seen by the air

Their instruments are the twin Keck Telescopes, the world’s largest optical and infrared telescopes. Each stands eight stories tall and weighs 300 tons, yet operates with nanometer precision. At the heart of each Keck Telescope is a revolutionary ten meter primary mirror, composed of 36 hexagonal segments that work in concert as a single piece of reflective glass.

Made possible through grants totaling more than $140 million from the W. M. Keck Foundation, the Observatory is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy (CARA), whose Board of Directors includes representatives from the California Institute of Technology and the University of California. In 1996, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) joined as a partner in the Observatory. The Keck I telescope began science observations in May 1993; Keck II began in October 1996.

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