Courtesy of NASA
Courtesy of NASA
Keck Observatory Team up Telescopes for Interferometry Mission
By Eric Storm
(04/14/01) In a new pioneering spirit NASA has aggressively pursued the idea of interferometry to enhance the human capability to see the universe. One of the greatest scientific revelations that have occurred in recent years have been the discovery of large gas planets in our local region of the Milky Way. Largely in an effort to discover more planets and in accordance with JPL's new Origins Program NASA is demonstrating interferometry on an unprecedented level high on top of Hawaii's Kilawea. On March 12 the twin 10m telescopes demonstrated "first light" and combined their power via an underground tunnel, beam combiner and a camera.
The Keck Interferometer promises to give a big boost to the astrometric search for planets. Astrometry is a process of astronomical measurement whereby observation looks for a transverse wobble of a star's position caused by a planet orbiting a star. Astrometry at NASA
The Keck Interferometer should be able to detect planets down to the size of Uranus with a spatial resolution down to about 30 milliarcseconds when combined with four proposed outrigger telescopes, which will improve the coverage of the interferometer.
One of the most important goals for the Keck Interferometer is to pave the way for future space-based interferometry missions like the Terrestrial Planet Finder, which will have much higher resolution. Keck interferometer will use Exozodi Characterization to measure dust concentration around star systems in order to determine which solar systems the future space-based interferometers should spend their time on in the search for terrestrial planets like earth. High amounts of dust accumulation around the parent star can obscure planet finding, which would hamper efforts to find earth-like planets. Back to News
Buy ipod movies http://download2movies.Com/ online
