The twin Keck scopes are a pair of identical telescopes set up as an optical interferometer. This allows two smaller scopes (if you call 10 meters small) to have the same resolving power as a larger scope of a size equal to the distance between the two scopes. That is, if the scopes are 100 meters apart, the resolution is the same as a telescope 100 meters in diameter.

The damage to the scopes had to do with their positioning systems. They need to be fixed/adjusted/recalibrated. I had got word on this in email before they even posted their press release. My email to them had suggested they post one.

As for throwing the entire thing off, the system that combines the two optical paths to create the interferometer has movable mirrors to keep things aligned, so a few microns is no big deal. The alignment system is accurate to nanometers.

Brian