HILO — The W.M. Keck Observatory helped pave the way for exoplanet discoveries.
And with a new $11 million instrument, dubbed the Keck Planet Finder, in the works, the dual 10-meter telescopes could continue to be a leader in the field for years to come.
Anne Kinney, Keck chief scientist, said the goal is to get it in place in 2019, assuming funding is secured.
“This will be one of the most sensitive instruments on one of the world’s most powerful telescopes,” she said.
Specifically, the instrument would determine the planet’s speed of rotation around its host star with near perfect precision.
Kinney said that will help astronomers identify planets that are the best candidates for hosting life.
“Once you have the speed, then you have the radius (of the orbit),” she said.
Next-generation telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, Thirty Meter Telescope and European Extremely Large Telescope, would then be used to try to capture light that passes through the planet’s atmosphere, which could identify the presence of life.
“It’s all about looking in the right place,” Kinney said.
One tell-tale sign of life would be finding high amounts of certain chemicals.
“We’re looking for something out of balance, whether too much oxygen or methane,” she said. “Life is basically nature out of balance.”
So far, Keck has found 138 confirmed planets around other solar systems, and many more candidate planets.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.