Do all telescopes take pictures like the striking images from the Hubble Space Telescope?
Do all telescopes take pictures like the striking images from the Hubble Space Telescope?
Some can, but choose not to. Learn about the reasons why at the next Mauna Kea Skies talk titled “Why Keck Telescopes Won’t Take Pretty Pictures” at ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 21.
The W.M. Keck Observatory’s twin telescopes, with their segmented mirrors and Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics, can see into space with better resolution than the Hubble Space Telescope. But instead of taking pretty pictures, the Keck telescopes are most often used to gather spectra, the light from astronomical objects split into its component colors. With cutting edge spectrographs, the light from stars, galaxies, supernovae and exoplanets are giving up their secrets.
Luca Rizzi‘s interactive talk will show how Keck telescopes do it, as well as allow the audience to try out some hand-held spectroscopes. Rizzi was born in Italy in 1974. He received his Ph.D. in Astronomy in 2003 from the University of Padova, an eight-centuries-old academic institution where Galileo Galilei was a teacher in the early 1600s.
He then moved to Hawaii, where he joined the Institute for Astronomy in Manoa. In 2007 he joined the Joint Astronomy Centre in Hilo as a sky survey support astronomer. In 2011 he became the support astronomer at Keck. Rizza is mainly interested in the study of the stellar populations in nearby galaxies and in the reconstruction of their star formation history. To this purpose he employs both optical and infrared observations, as well as theoretical instruments such as synthetic stellar populations. In his spare time he enjoys cooking and scuba diving, and he is trying to improve on his beginner hula skills.
The program will be hosted by Harriet Parsons from Joint Astronomy Centre. She will provide observational highlights of the current night sky over Hawaii, pointing out prominent constellations and stars one can see during this time of year. The monthly planetarium presentations are held on the third Saturday of each month. Cost is $8, with member discounts. Visit www.imiloahawaii.org, or call 969-9703.