W. M. Keck Observatory at 4,145 m (13,600 ft).

Public observatory · Maunakea, Hawaii Island, Hawaii

W. M. Keck Observatory

W. M. Keck Observatory is a public observatory in Maunakea, Hawaii Island, Hawaii. It is open to the public. W. M. Keck Observatory is about 8 km (5 mi) from Mauna Kea, a Bortle Class 2 dark sky place.

W. M. Keck Observatory in brief

Open to the public
Yes
Elevation
4,145 m (13,600 ft)
Bortle class
Not yet rated
Observes in
Optical, infrared
Part of
Mauna Kea Observatories (MKO)

Official site

Can you visit W. M. Keck Observatory? Yes

Summit Visitors' Gallery inside Keck I open daily 10 am-2:30 pm (4WD above 9,200 ft); no night viewing; headquarters in Waimea.

A public night at an observatory usually starts at dusk with a short talk, then a line at the eyepiece of the main telescope for the Moon, a planet or a bright cluster, with volunteers' smaller telescopes set up outside. Dress for the night air even in summer: domes are not heated, so the telescope stays at outside temperature. Many nights sell out or cancel for clouds, so check the observatory's site on the day.

W. M. Keck Observatory
W. M. Keck Observatory

Telescopes at W. M. Keck Observatory: optical, infrared

2 x 10-m (Keck I and Keck II).

How this observatory is built, part by part and supplier by supplier: W. M. Keck Observatory Spotlight.

largest optical interferometer in the U.S.

Mauna Kea Observatories (MKO): 11 observatories on one site

How dark the sky is at W. M. Keck Observatory

W. M. Keck Observatory has no Bortle rating in the list yet. The scale below shows what each class looks like.

1 mag 8.0 21.99+ 2 mag 7.5 21.89+ 3 mag 7.0 21.69+ 4 mag 6.5 20.49+ 5 mag 6.0 19.50+ 6 mag 5.5 18.94+ 7 mag 5.0 18.38+ 8 mag 4.5 18.00+ 9 mag 4.0
The Bortle scale. Each panel shows the class number, the faintest star the naked eye reaches at the zenith, and the darkest-edge sky brightness reading of that class in mag/arcsec².

Sky brightness and class come from the World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness (Falchi et al. 2016, CC BY-NC 4.0), with natural skyglow added, at the coordinates below. Research telescopes are often sited on mountains above the haze, so the real sky can be darker than the map suggests.

W. M. Keck Observatory among the observatories of Hawaii

Ha'ena State Park Haleakala National Park Hanauma Bay Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Kalahaku Overlook Kau Forest Reserve Kaumahina State Wayside Koke'e State Park Manuka State Wayside Mauna Kea Na Pali-Kona Forest Reserve Pala'au State Park Polihale State Park Polipoli Spring State Recreation Area Pua'a Ka'a State Wayside Wai'anapanapa State Park Wailua Valley State Wayside Waimea Canyon State Park Mauna Loa Observatory Leeward College Observatory KEASA Observatory Gemini North Observatory Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Subaru Telescope James Clerk Maxwell Telescope NASA Infrared Telescope Submillimeter Array Very Long Baseline Array - Mauna Kea Station UH 2.2m Telescope Thirty Meter Telescope (proposed) Pan-STARRS Faulkes Telescope North (LCO 2m) Inouye Solar Telescope Advanced Electro-Optical System Mees Solar Observatory Solar-C Telescope Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (proposed) Haleakala Observatory ATLAS Haleakala Tohoku Telescopes Lanihuli Observatory Maunakea Observatories W. M. Keck Observatory Maunakea, Hawaii Island, Hawaii W. M. Keck Observatory Maunakea, Hawaii Island, Hawaii
Dark sky place Research or private observatory Observatory open to the public

Green dots are observatories open to the public, blue dots research or private sites, squares dark sky places; select one for its page. See Hawaii observatories for the full list.

The coordinates on this page point to Keck I and II domes, Maunakea summit (Wikipedia): 19.826°N, 155.474°W.

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Open the larger map · Directions. Mountain observatory roads are often gated after dark; go only on a scheduled public night.

Dark sky places, observatories and clubs near W. M. Keck Observatory

W. M. Keck Observatory is about 8 km (5 mi) from Mauna Kea, a Bortle Class 2 dark sky place. See Mauna Kea for camping, where to set up and the sky by season.

Nearest dark sky places

PlaceWhereBortleDistance
Mauna KeaHawaii28 km (5 mi)
Hawaii Volcanoes National ParkHawaii549 km (30 mi)
Kau Forest ReserveHawaii268 km (42 mi)
Manuka State WaysideHawaii188 km (55 mi)
Wai'anapanapa State ParkHawaii2119 km (74 mi)
Haleakala National ParkHawaii2128 km (79 mi)

Other observatories open to the public within 150 km

  • Maunakea ObservatoriesMauna Kea, Hawaii, 1 km (0 mi). Maunakea Visitor Information Station (2,800 m) hosts monthly reservation stargazing events; summit domes closed to public except resident KOE tours

Planning a trip? Astrotourism in Hawaii puts the dark sky places, observatories, clubs, star parties, planetariums and science centers of the state on one map, with the best night out worked out.

W. M. Keck Observatory record

Every value in the observatories dataset for W. M. Keck Observatory
ID244
NameW. M. Keck Observatory
AddressMaunakea summit
CityMaunakea, Hawaii Island
StateHI
CountryUSA
Webkeckobservatory.org
Publicy
Jobshttps://keckobservatory.applicantpro.com/jobs/
Githttps://github.com/KeckObservatory
Size1
Telescope2 x 10-m (Keck I and Keck II)
ComplexMauna Kea Observatories (MKO)
Noteslargest optical interferometer in the U.S.
Elevation4145
Opticaly
IRy
Lat19.82639
Lon-155.47444
LatLonSpotKeck I and II domes, Maunakea summit (Wikipedia)
StatusActive
PublicNoteSummit Visitors' Gallery inside Keck I open daily 10 am-2:30 pm (4WD above 9,200 ft); no night viewing; headquarters in Waimea
Sourceshttps://keckobservatory.org/visit https://wikiwand.com/en/Keck_telescope
ParkID195
ParkKm7.7

From the site's observatories dataset (observatories_q426). Distances are computed from the coordinates.