Mars above the Keck Lasers

Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year is the largest international competition of its kind. Organised by the Royal Observatory Greenwich and sponsored by Insight Investment, the competition receives entries from photographers all around the world. It annually showcases the best space photography from a global community of astrophotographers.

This image shows an extremely bright Mars rising above the Keck telescopes on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano. With 10-metre diameter primary mirrors, the Keck telescopes are two of the largest optical/infrared telescopes in the world. The adaptive optics lasers which they emit help to cancel out the blurring effects of turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere. Each laser is about 0.5 m wide and they are extremely impressive to see in person. The lasers were not actually crossing; this is just a flattening effect of the 2D photograph.

Shane Goebel
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