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Photo by reed hutchinson Astronomer James Larkin is at computer terminals linked to the Keck Observatory in Hawaii .

UCLA astronomers activate link to world's largest telescopes

BY AJAY SINGH
Today Staff Writer

Mauna Kea, Hawaii's highest mountain, is home to the Keck Observatory, where two of the world's largest telescopes sit at a forbidding 14,000 feet. For the past 12 years, James Larkin, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, has traveled regularly to Hawaii to study distant galaxies in the hope of understanding how they evolved.

Last month, for the first time, Larkin and his colleagues were able to do that from the comfort of a small room in Knudsen Hall. They can now view distant galaxies through computers connected remotely to the twin giant telescopes on Mauna Kea — Keck 1 and Keck 2.

The new arrangement has several advantages. Astronomers save thousands of dollars in airfare and other related expenses. They don't have to acclimatize for what is a veritable pilgrimage to the mountain summit for just four hours of star-gazing. And astronomers who would rather not travel — Professor Andrea Ghez, for one, recently had a baby — need not do so.

Larkin and graduate student Shelly Wright launched the new remote-viewing system without fanfare on the night of March 20. Their aim: to capture images of several hundred galaxies about 5 billion to 9 billion light years away.

But the inaugural run was a bit of a let-down. Although the astronomers did glimpse a cluster of galaxies, gathering 30 minutes of data, they were unable to obtain any clear images because of bad weather, a problem that frequently afflicts Mauna Kea. “It was cloudy, and we got weathered out,” said Larkin, explaining that, on average, this happens once every three nights at Keck.

Larkin captured an earlier image of a star some 100 light years away, with more than 30 galaxies behind it.

The astronomers attempted their task again the following day, starting with a 6 p.m. video conference with technicians at the observatory, which is managed jointly by UC, the California Institute of Technology and NASA.

From 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., the pair stayed at their computers. This time, said Larkin, “it was freezing outside [the observatory], and we couldn't even open the telescope. If it's too cold or too moist, frost forms on the telescope, damaging the coating of the optics. But we saved a few thousand dollars by not traveling out, got a good night's sleep and came back to work Wednesday morning.”

Astronomers who wish to use the Keck telescopes must apply for time in six-month slots. Larkin and Wright had applied for three nights — and now must reapply in September. They will get another night in June — but it won't be enough to gather all the data they need.

“It's like taking a census of the country and not being able to reach many of the states,” said Larkin.