#maunakea

A new study using data from the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea serves up the closest-ever view of a planet-forming disk around young star HD 34282 using the SPAM survey — The Search for Protoplanets with Aperture Masking, affectionately referred to as SPAM.

Astronomers using data from the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea in Hawaiʻi Island have identified a rare, ancient planetary system still being actively consumed by its central white dwarf star, LSPM J0207+3331.

A groundbreaking new instrument that lets astronomers see deeper into space than ever before using a single telescope was brought to life with help from a University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty member.

Scientists using the Subaru Telescope on Maunakea have discovered a new celestial object that could provide groundbreaking insight into the earliest days of our Solar System. The object, officially named 2023 KQ14 and affectionately nicknamed “Ammonite” by the research team, is believed to be a preserved relic—or “fossil”—from the Solar System’s infancy.

UKIRT will be the third Maunakea observatory to be decommissioned under UH’s Maunakea Comprehensive Management Plan, following Caltech Submillimeter Observatory and UH Hilo Hōkū Keʻa Observatory, both completed in 2024. 

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) Board of Trustees today approved the immediate withdrawal of its two longstanding lawsuits concerning Maunakea, marking a pivotal shift towards collaborative stewardship and cultural preservation of the sacred mountain.

Volcano Watch: As people from around the world are captivated by episodic lava fountaining during the ongoing Kīlauea eruption in Halemaʻumaʻu, let’s use the current pause and transition our attention back to the details of another recent eruption—Maunaloa in 2022.

Astronomers using W. M. Keck Observatory at Maunakea on Hawaiʻi Island have found compelling evidence of a dark matter-deficient dwarf galaxy, FCC 224. The discovery challenges the traditional cosmological paradigm, which assumes dark matter is a fundamental component in galaxy formation.

Maunakea on Hawaiʻi Island is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The majestic mountain earned the designation on March 27, 2025, and is identified as a Traditional Cultural Property or TCP and District by the federal government of the United States.

Despite being a scenario widely pondered by astronomers and Hollywood writers for decades, further observations have since determined YR4 will not impact the Earth in 2032 as originally predicted. However, there is a ~2% chance it could hit the Moon instead, according to the study.

Decades of W.M. Keck Observatory research on the famed Wolf-Rayet 104 “pinwheel star” system has taken a new turn.

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.

An observatory on Maunakea played a pivotal role in a groundbreaking study that sheds light on the birth and evolution of planetary systems. Using the Submillimeter Array (SMA), an astronomer from the University of Hawaiʻi helped capture crystal-clear images of exocomet belts—regions around stars where icy and rocky objects called exocomets are found.

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa continues to solidify its status as a leading research institution, ranking No. 92 among the top 660 research universities in the US and No. 68 among the top 420 public universities.

University of Hawai‘i Maui College Associate Professor Dr. Joseph Keola Donaghy documents and explores the role that musical performance and composition practice played in efforts to defend Maunakea and how these practices reflected the idea of kapu aloha that was prevalent among kia‘i (protectors).

The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA) will host its 2024 Native Hawaiian Convention on Hawai‘i Island at the Hilton Waikoloa Village from Sept. 17 to Sept. 19, 2024. 

Among its many science programs, IRTF is used to identify asteroids and comets that may pose a threat to Earth. The NASA contract with UH has a maximum potential value of approximately $85.5 million and could extend through December 2033, according to the space agency.

A University of Hawaiʻi telescope on Maunakea will play a key role in a newly approved $19.5 million NASA space mission that will put an artificial “star” in orbit around the Earth. The star will be a satellite that scientists will use to precisely calibrate telescopes and more accurately measure the brightness of objects ranging from nearby stars to distant explosions of supernovae in far-off galaxies. As part of the NASA Landolt Space Mission, astronomers at the UH Institute for Astronomy (IfA) will utilize observations to generate fresh star brightness catalogs.

Last week’s “Volcano Watch” summarized Kīlauea’s explosive eruptions of 1924 and their impacts on communities. This week, scientists dig a little deeper and share new discoveries being made by examining the ash deposited during these events.

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for the Big Island Summits, in effect from noon on Friday, May 10 to 6 a.m. on Saturday, May 11, 2024.