Thirteen state-of-the-art telescopes stand on Mauna Kea, the tallest mountain in the Pacific basin, looming over the island of Hawaii. By day the view from the peak is of a rich blue black sky. By night, the pitch darkness is studded with starry diamonds. At nearly 14,000 feet, the mountain offers an untainted view of the heavens that is increasingly rare in a lit-up world, a view that makes an astronomer’s work a lot easier.
Photograph by Amanda Friedman
Geoff Marcy (left) and Paul Butler are reflected in a mirror segment from the Keck I telescope, which they use to find extrasolar planets. “We’re lucky we don’t have any children,” says Marcy. “Our kids are the planets.”
Late on a Saturday night, Geoff Marcy and Paul Butler are hunched over computer monitors in an office 12,000 feet below the summit, in the nearby ranching town of Waimea. People turn in ...
