#John O’Meara
Keck Observatory helps identify possible triple system in Kuiper Belt
A team of researchers using data from W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi Island, and NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has likely discovered a stable trio of icy space rocks in the solar system’s Kuiper Belt. If confirmed, the 148780 Altjira system would be the second known three-body system in the region, suggesting similar triples may exist and supporting a theory about the solar system’s history and early formation of Kuiper Belt objects.
Two Astronomers from W. M. Keck Observatory to Receive 2020 AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize
The American Association for the Advancement of Science announced that this year’s winning research paper published in the journal “Science” is co-authored by two astronomers from W. M. Keck Observatory, Chief Scientist John O’Meara and professor J. Xavier Prochaska of UC Santa Cruz. The authors of the research paper titled “A single fast radio burst localized to a massive galaxy at cosmological distance” will receive the 2020 AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize on Feb. 10 at a virtual ceremony.
