WASHINGTON, D. C. (January 10, 2006) A new sodium laser is giving 50 times more sky coverage to the atmospheric-correcting technology known as adaptive optics on the Keck II telescope at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The laser lets scientists explore most of the sky with adaptive optics and gives them the capability to study objects that were previously too faint to be seen with the system. Since 1999, Keck Adaptive Optics has provided 10 times more resolving power than what could otherwise be achieved from the ground. The results are producing infrared images from the ground comparable – and often better – than those taken from space.

“This has been the most exciting technological and scientific breakthrough for the Observatory in the last decade. It may forever change the way we do astronomy from the ground,” said W. M. Keck Observatory Director Fred Chaffee. “We are entering a new, extraordinary era of discovery.”

After just one year of regular scientific use, the Keck Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics system is producing spectacular results and advancing research in several fields of astronomical study. Findings include the discovery of new asteroids, moons and planetoids in our solar system, the detection of new brown dwarf binary systems -- including a strange new kind of binary, observations of physical processes taking place near a supermassive black hole, and new findings about extremely distant supernovae and young galaxies.

The technique of adaptive optics uses visible light from a bright star to measure and correct for atmospheric distortions at infrared wavelengths. But only about two percent of the sky has stars bright enough to use with adaptive optics. The Keck Laser Guide Star system overcomes this limitation by creating an artificial star anywhere in the sky. The W. M. Keck Observatory is the only 8 10 meter class facility in the world currently providing this capability to observers.

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More than 21 scientific results made possible with the Keck Laser Guide Star system are presented today at the 207th meeting of the AAS in Washington D.C. Among the many new significant findings discussed at Special Session 98, “Seeing the Universe in a New (Sodium) Light”

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