Keck Archives - Astrobiology

Reduced flux maps of HD 143811 AB obtained by Gemini/GPI in 2016 and 2019 (left and center) and Keck/NIRC2 in 2022 (right). These images are 2” × 2”. North is up and East is left. The star is at the center of the image behind the coronagraph. Arrows indicates the location of the companion. Intensity scales are linear and vary for each image in order to highlight the companion. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

HD 143811 AB b: A Directly Imaged Planet Orbiting a Spectroscopic Binary in Sco-Cen

by Keith CowingSeptember 15, 2025September 14, 2025

We present confirmation of HD 143811 AB b, a substellar companion to spectroscopic binary HD 143811 AB through direct imaging with the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) and Keck NIRC2.

These infrared-light images of Titan were taken by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope on 11 July 2023. They show methane clouds appearing at different altitudes in Titan’s northern hemisphere. On the left side is a representative-colour image (1.4 microns is coloured blue, 1.5 microns is green, and 2.0 microns is red: filters F140M, F150W, and F200W, respectively). In the middle is a single-wavelength image taken by Webb at 2.12 microns. This wavelength is predominantly emitted from Titan’s lower troposphere. The rightmost image shows emission at 1.64 microns, which favours higher altitudes, in Titan’s upper troposphere and stratosphere (an atmospheric layer above the troposphere). Larger image

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Saturn, Titan

Webb Telescope Studies The Weather On Titan – A Prime Astrobiology Target

by Keith CowingMay 14, 2025May 14, 2025

A science team has combined data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and the Keck II telescope to see evidence of cloud convection on Saturn’s moon Titan in the […]

Rotation periods as a function of effective temperatures for all detections (unfilled points), including new detections (blue), planet hosts (yellow), and new planet hosts (orange). The complete sample from Santos et al. (2021) is shown for reference as a density distribution. -- astro-ph.SR

Astronomy & Telescopes, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Space Weather & Heliophysics, Status Report, Stellar Cartography

A Homogeneous Catalog of Oscillating Solar-Type Stars Observed by the Kepler Mission and a New Amplitude Scaling Relation Including Chromospheric Activity

by Keith CowingMarch 21, 2025March 21, 2025

We present a homogeneous catalog of global asteroseismic parameters and derived stellar parameters for 765 Kepler main-sequence and subgiant stars.

Left: Final PSF-subtracted images of LO Peg obtained with Super-RDI. North is up and east is to the left. The image and color bar are depicted in linear scale in normalized analog to digital units and have been smoothed using a Gaussian kernel with a 1.5 pixel standard deviation (40% of the width of the instrumental PSF) to average out high-frequency noise. Right: Parallactic angle of individual frames obtained across the entire observation sequence. Presented as insets are three representative de-rotated pre-processed frames (north is up and east is to the left) in the sequence showing that the point source in our final PSF-subtracted image rotates across the sequence as expected for a speckle. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Stellar Cartography

Efficiently Searching for Close-in Companions Around Young M Dwarfs Using a Multi-year PSF Library

by Keith CowingAugust 28, 2024August 27, 2024

We present Super-RDI, a unique framework for the application of reference star differential imaging (RDI) to Keck/NIRC2 high-contrast imaging observations with the vortex coronagraph.

The attributes of planet TOI-1386 b (Panels A–D) and star TOI-1386 (Panels E & F) compared to the population of sub-Saturn planets. TOI-1386 b’s position is indicated by the cross. Planets with a measured mass between 6 – 60 M⊕ are included in our sub-Saturn population. The colorbar for each plot indicates the TSM value of the planet, with TOI-1386 b having a TSM of 42.5. Compared to the rest of the sub-Saturn population, TOI-1386 b is a massive, cool, moderately eccentric planet orbiting a metal rich sun-like star. -- astro-ph.EP

Artemis & Lunar Exploration, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

The TESS-Keck Survey. XIX. A Warm Transiting Sub-Saturn Mass Planet and a non-Transiting Saturn Mass Planet Orbiting a Solar Analog

by Keith CowingFebruary 7, 2024February 7, 2024

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) continues to dramatically increase the number of known transiting exoplanets, and is optimal for monitoring bright stars amenable to radial velocity (RV) and atmospheric […]

Titan

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Titan

Webb, Keck Telescopes Team Up to Track Clouds on Saturn’s Moon Titan

by Keith CowingDecember 1, 2022December 1, 2022

On the morning of Saturday, Nov. 5, an international team of planetary scientists woke up with great delight to the first Webb images of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.