The Keck Planet Finder (KPF) is the world’s most advanced high-resolution spectrometer for visible wavelengths. KPF was specifically designed for Keck Observatory as a critical complement to NASA’s existing planet-hunting telescopes, which survey thousands of exoplanets in search of worlds like our own. The projects supported by these grants are a collaboration between the University of California Los Angeles and the California Association for Research in Astronomy. The Foundation has supported Keck Planet Finder commissioning and early science since 2022 through four grants.

These grants are to investigate the origin of small planets with the KPF; for the KPF Community Cadence initiative; for upgrades and engineering interventions for the KPF; and for the KPF Solar Calibrator.