The 10-metre Keck Telescope being built on Mauna Kea in Hawaii will
have a twin by 1996. On 26 April, the W. M. Keck Foundation gave the California
Institute of Technology $74.6 million towards the $93.3 million cost of
a second 10-metre telescope next to the first. NASA may pay the rest.
Keck I will have the greatest light gathering power of any ground-based
telescope. The second telescope will be built 85 metres away, so the pair
can be used for optical and infrared interferometry – giving the combined
resolution of an 85-metre telescope.
Together, the two telescopes will be able to detect large, hot planets
in orbit around the nearest stars.
