Stairway to the Stars: The Story of the World’s Largest Observatory (2001)(en)(360s)

Barry Parker9780306447631, 0-306-44763-0

The author combines “the history of Mauna Kea, the Hawaiian 13,795-foot-high site of nine telescopes, with vignettes of the astronomers who work there. . . . Stories concerning political, environmental, and scientific battles are . . . [included with] descriptions of telescope construction and use.”

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Table of contents :
Contents……Page 8
CHAPTER 1 Introduction……Page 12
A Promising Beginning……Page 28
Problems……Page 40
The Building of the 88-Inch Telescope……Page 47
The Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope……Page 50
The NASA Infrared Telescope……Page 57
The United Kingdom Infrared Telescope……Page 62
Problems Along the Way……Page 67
The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope……Page 69
The Caltech Submillimeter Telescope……Page 73
CHAPTER 4 The Largest Optical Telescope in the World—Keck……Page 78
Early History……Page 79
Stress-Mirror Polishing……Page 85
Passive and Active Systems……Page 88
The Building of a Prototype……Page 92
Looking for Funding……Page 94
Design of the Telescope……Page 96
CHAPTER 5 The Continuing Story of Keck……Page 100
Building the Dome and Telescope……Page 101
First Light……Page 106
Dedication……Page 110
The Instruments of Keck……Page 116
Keck II and Interferometry……Page 117
Adaptive Optics……Page 121
Projects……Page 123
First Trip……Page 126
Hale Pohaku……Page 130
Approaching the Summit……Page 135
On the Summit……Page 139
Approaching from Waimea……Page 140
Survey of the Observatories……Page 143
CHAPTER 7 Night at the Observatory……Page 156
CCDs……Page 159
Inside the UKIRT Dome……Page 162
Down in Submillimeter Valley……Page 169
Inside the Canada–France–Hawaii Dome……Page 171
Remote Observing……Page 176
CHAPTER 8 Running the Observatory: The Directors……Page 178
The Institute for Astronomy……Page 179
The Joint Astronomy Centre……Page 183
The Canada–France–Hawaii Corporation……Page 192
Keck……Page 199
CHAPTER 9 Monster at the Core……Page 206
John Kormendy……Page 211
Quasars and Black Holes……Page 219
Black Hole in Our Galaxy?……Page 223
CHAPTER 10 Surveying the Universe……Page 232
Brent Tully……Page 235
Continuing Controversy……Page 242
Peculiar Velocities and the Great Attractor……Page 244
Sandra Faber……Page 250
CHAPTER 11 Searching for the Ends of the Universe……Page 256
Specifying Deep Space……Page 258
Surveying Deep Space……Page 259
Markers and Lighthouses……Page 266
Other Surveys……Page 271
Early Stellar Astronomy……Page 274
The Life Cycle of a Star……Page 280
Herbig Stars……Page 285
Looking for Lithium……Page 289
Early Searches……Page 294
Basic Techniques……Page 298
The CFH–DAO Program……Page 300
Dust and Debris……Page 304
TOPS……Page 306
CHAPTER 14 Searching for the Origin of the Solar System……Page 310
Comets……Page 313
Observing the Kuiper Belt……Page 318
Short- and Long-Period Comets: How Do They Differ?……Page 322
Gemini……Page 328
Project Subaru……Page 333
The Smithsonian Submillimeter Array……Page 337
The Very Long Baseline Array……Page 340
Epilogue……Page 342
B……Page 344
C……Page 345
G……Page 346
L……Page 347
P……Page 348
S……Page 349
Z……Page 350
Bibiography……Page 352
C……Page 356
H……Page 357
L……Page 358
P……Page 359
V……Page 360
Z……Page 361