Maunakea Observatory Awarded NSF Grant to Upgrade Optics

Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics of the Keck II telescope. Image by Andrew Hara

The W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Big Island was awarded a National Science Foundation grant for a significant enhancement of the performance of the adaptive optics system on the Keck IItelescope, one of the telescopes on University of Hawaiʻi managed land.

The Keck II telescope has one of the most scientifically productive adaptive optics systems on Earth, and the upgrade will further advance high-impact research on the hunt for habitable exoplanets, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way and the nature of dark matter and dark energy.

Recognizing this as a valuable STEM opportunity for education and workforce development, Keck Observatory will include a postdoc as well as a Hawaiʻi college student from the summer Akamai Internship Program to work on the development of the project.

Read more about the upgrade and the research at the Keck Observatory website.