Near Mauna Kea's summit, this observatory has a visitors' gallery with scientific displays, public restrooms and partial views inside the Keck I dome. The world's largest and most powerful optical and infrared telescopes are housed here, a joint project of the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), the University of California and NASA. The two interchangeable telescopes can function as one – like a pair of binoculars searching the sky – allowing them to study incredibly distant galaxies.
In 1992, Keck I made a breakthrough in telescope design using a unique honeycomb feature made up of 36 hexagonal mirror segments that function as a single piece of glass. A replica of the first telescope, Keck II , went online in 1996. In 2013, scientists using Keck I discovered the most distant galaxy ever observed, a mere 13.1 billion light years away.
