While ISU students were trudging through the snow, Russell Lavery, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, was in Hawaii using Keck II, the world’s largest optical telescope, in hopes of finding the farthest away object ever seen with the human eye.

Lavery spent four days on Mount Mauna Kea in Hawaii at the end of January. Although for some people that may sound like paradise, for Lavery it was a lot of work and little play. He said he spent most of his time in the cold observatory.

“The temperature was only about 45 degrees during the day and 25 degrees at night,” Lavery said. “I was walking around with my winter coat on.”

At 14,000 feet, measured from its base on the ocean floor, Mauna Kea is the tallest and largest mountain in the world. The extreme height of the mountain causes cold temperatures year round.

Professor Patrick Henry and graduate student Chris Mullis, both of the University of Hawaii, worked with Lavery on the project.

“[We were hoping to find] observations of distant galaxies formed very early in the universe,” Lavery said.

He said the object he was hoping to see has never been viewed by humans.

“It should be a new type of phenomenon that hasn’t been observed before,” Lavery said.

The team specifically wanted to study a very distant object that appeared to vary in brightness and discover the reason for the variance.

Lavery said he is unsure whether they were successful, since the data is still being analyzed.

Steven Kawaler, professor of physics and astronomy, said even though Lavery’s team members don’t know if they discovered the object, his activities still reflect positively on Iowa State.

“[The study] still enhances ISU’s reputation in the astronomical community,” he said. “People now know that ISU astronomers can use that size of an instrument.”

The idea for this project came out of one of Lavery’s previous observations, Kawaler said.

“Once astronomers have an idea, they propose a line of research and write an observing proposal at least once a year,” he said.

The proposal states why the research is important, and a committee then decides which ideas to finance.

“Most astronomers at ISU compete for funding, and most have participated in some kind of research project recently,” Kawaler said.

Prior to arriving at Iowa State, Lavery spent three years living and observing heavenly bodies. He has also observed at Kitt Peak Observatory in Kitt Peak, Ariz., studied the large array in New Mexico and worked with the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope.