Hum Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 The world's largest optical telescope facility can now use an "artificial star" to improve its vision. The star is created with a laser, which is fired 90km into the sky to make sodium atoms in the thermosphere glow. This spot of light is then used as a reference to process and correct the blurring effects of our turbulent atmosphere on astronomical images. The system will improve the already stunning pictures obtained by Europe's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. The achievement is the culmination of five years of collaborative work by a team of scientists and engineers from the European Southern Observatory (Eso) organisation, and the Max Planck Institutes for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching and for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany. The VLT is actually made up of four 8.2m telescopes, which have been built on the summit of Cerro Paranal, in the Atacama Desert. Each unit takes a name from the Mapuche language of the Chilean Indians. The new laser "adaptive optics" system has been attached to the telescope known as Yepun. The artificial star it creates is extremely faint - about 20 times fainter than the faintest star that can be seen with the unaided eye - but bright enough for the adaptive optics to measure and correct the "twinkling" that impedes a clear view of the Universe. The system is dependent on some powerful computing, sophisticated electronic camera and laser technology, and a 10cm mirror that can rapidly change its shape. "As light comes down through the atmosphere, it gets 'corrugated'; as if it has gone through a bathroom window and has a particular shape on it," explained Ric Davies, project manager for the laser source development at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics. "By looking at the reference source, the computer calculates what the shape is and makes the deformable mirror take exactly the right shape to make the light flat again," he told the BBC News website. full story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 And this is one of the many reason why i wanna go visit the VLT :happy: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts