#W. M. Keck Observatory

Researchers with the help of a Mauna Kea observatory on the Big Island construct first complete spectrum of the two distinct rings orbiting around the seventh planet in the solar system, revealing composition and formation history.

‘Spin is a fossil record of how a planet formed,’ said study lead author and researcher at Northwestern University Dino Chih-Chun Hsu in an announcement about the discovery. ‘By measuring how quickly these worlds rotate, we can start to piece together the physical processes that shaped them tens to hundreds of millions of years ago.’

A new multi-wavelength study shows that some ultra-massive galaxies shut down star formation early, while others remain active but hidden by dust,

A team of astronomers using a variety of telescopes — including W. M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea on the Big Island — seem to have discovered a possible “Superkilonova,” or a kilonova spurred by a supernova that forms a pair of dense, dead stars called neutron stars than then smash together.

Observations of AT 2024wpp, including data from the W. M. Keck Observatory on the Big Island, reveal that luminous fast blue optical transients are driven by extreme stellar destruction — not supernovae

Groundbreaking research from W. M. Keck Observatory and Subaru Telescope highlight continued leadership in imaging new worlds by Big Island’s Maunakea.

From atop Maunakea on the Big Island to around the world, astronomers and citizen stargazers are eagerly awaiting the passage of the interstellar comet through our solar system.

Astronomers have discovered the first-ever spatially resolved, gravitationally lensed superluminous supernova. The object, dubbed SN 2025wny, offers a rare look at a stellar cataclysm from the early Universe and provides a striking confirmation of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. The discovery relied on a chain of cutting-edge observatories collaborating on scientific breakthroughs.

A team of astronomers using a variety of ground and space-based telescopes including the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi Island, have made one of the most precise independent measurements yet of how fast the universe is expanding, further deepening the divide on one of the biggest mysteries in modern cosmology.

An international team of astrophysicists using W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi Island have uncovered a possible origin of fast X-ray transients (FXTs) — mysterious, fleeting bursts of X-rays that have long puzzled astronomers.

A team at the University of Hawaiʻi’s Institute for Astronomy has uncovered a dazzling new kind of cosmic explosion, more energetic than anything seen before.

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.

A Caltech-led team using W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaiʻi Island has mapped in 3-D the remains of a historical supernova that went boom in the year 1181 – it’s one of only five confirmed supernovae in our Milky Way galaxy ever seen from Earth and recorded in human history.

Black hole jets spanning 23 million light-years total length in outer space have been discovered by a Caltech-led team of astronomers using the W. M. Keck Observatory atop Maunakea on Hawaiʻi Island. The jets of hot plasma are the largest ever observed, according to the scientists.

The additional jewel in the Northern Crown constellation isn’t actually a star. It’s the light from an astronomical thermonuclear explosion caused by the buildup of pressure and heat in the binary system T Coronae Borealis, also dubbed the “Blaze Star,” 3,000 light-years away from Earth.

An international team of scientists, with the help of three observatories atop Maunakea on the Big Island, discovered the relatively close exoplanet dubbed Gliese 12 b in our galactic neighborhood.

Using multiple telescopes, researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science are working to understand supernovae, exploding stars, dating back millions of light-years and considered the building blocks of the universe and life itself.

An ancient star system has been detected with the help of two Maunakea observatories on Hawaiʻi Island – W. M. Keck Observatory and Canada-France-Hawaiʻi Telescope – and the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy’s Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System on Haleakalā, according to a Keck Observatory announcement.

Astronomers have discovered a supernova whose light was so warped by the gravity of a galaxy that it appears as four images in the sky. 

Astronomers have captured the first-ever spin measurements of HR 8799, the famed system that made history as the very first exoplanetary system to have its image taken.