Before heading up to the Keck Observatory telescopes, visitors are required to spend an hour at the 9,000 foot level. This helps identify folks who are going to have trouble at almost 14,000 feet, and it allows the rest of us time to acclimatize to less oxygen. After arriving at the Keck staff facility a few miles above the Big Island’s saddle road, we drank liquids, wandered around, visited with each other, and then we settled in for the telescope open house introduction and safety talk.
There were several good Big Island speakers and I was fortunate to record one of the best, Keck Observatory Director Dr Taft Armandroff. I divided Dr Armandroff’s talk into three video sections.
1. Points of interest for telescope visitors: the mirrors, the facility’s size, and the ancient light source
2. About the Keck organization: parent institutions
3. What the Keck scientists are studying; exciting recent findings about dark matter
On to the summit! (To be continued)
Tags: "Keck Observatory", "Taft Armandroff", Big Island, telescopes, video