What a pleasure it is to write this email!
At least seven years in the making, this morning at about 2:30 AM HST, the Keck AO and laser teams for the first time locked the adaptive optics system on an artificial laser star, thus opening the era of LGS AO on large telescopes.
A *huge* amount of effort was involved to reach this major milestone, and like any positive first light result, there is much to be done before the system can be considered operational. But also like any positive first light result, it shows that it *can* be done and gives us great optimism that our 30-year strategic goal of achieving diffraction-limited performance with the Keck telescopes is not an impossible dream, but an attainable one.
Watch our public web page (www2.keck.hawaii.edu) for a first light image and technical details of what was achieved once the exhausted teams have had a few hours' sleep before another long night of further testing.
This has to be one of the most gratifying nights in all my years at Keck.
Congratulations to the teams, to the staff of the entire Observatory, and to all our California collaborators for making this possible. I'm proud to be associated with all of you.

Fred