Supersharp Images from New VLT Adaptive Optics

[multiweb]

Impressive!

https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1824/?lang

Some more info and videos: https://phys.org/news/2017-08-cutting-edge-optics-facility.html

[Saturnine]

That is an impressive image from a ground based telescope, at first I thought it was an 360 deg. image of "our" blue sky with some cloud bands.
Certainly is an image of cloud bands, but on Neptune not Earth.

[JA]

Amazing !!!:thumbsup:

Bubble down technology to amateur use in 5 years or sooner- if there was a push for / $$$ in it. Of course all those lasers pointing upwards may infuriate some.

Best
JA

[multiweb]

The image comparisons on the site are amazing. Check the HST shots and also the cluster picture.

[Stonius]

Wow! I'll take one! :-)

[AndyG]

Sounds exciting actually. The Laser bit makes sense (how it works), what interests me most, is how the secondary deforms. How does it do it so fast, and of course, so precisely? Is it like the DLP in a projector perhaps? Not too worried about the lasers, they could possibly be run on a wavelength outside of "visible light"... and as long as the power level is not damaging.

[Peter Ward]

Many amateurs don't see the value in top shelf gear in the current market (that doesn't include AO)...hence adding a price premium for "trickle down" AO would be a good way to go broke in a hurry IMHO :lol:

That said. Awesome tech.

I want one.

[luka]

Very cool.



They had four 22-watt laser beams pointing to the sky. I am sure the aviation industry will not be too happy if we all started replicating that. Neither will the bird lovers...

Just curious, are atmospheric effects similar for visible and IR?


Also don't you love the exaggeration in the summary of the first link:
"It is now possible to capture images from the ground at visible wavelengths that are sharper than those from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. "
and two paragraphs down:
"... gives images comparable in sharpness to those from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope."
(bold emphasis is mine)
:shrug:

[AndyG]

22W x4? Yeah, nah.. better not then :( I've seen 1 watt lasers set phone books on fire. 4x 22W sounds like more of a crew mounted weapon, rather than a personal device...

[luka]

An interesting quote about the field of view:

[multiweb]

There are a couple of comprehensive papers online available for download if you google MUSE narrow field or Laser tomography (http://www.astropic.net/astro/Adaptive_optics_for_Extremely_Large _Telescopes.pdf) that describes all the various type of AO involved in the process and combined to generate the final picture based on telescope aperture, number of natural guide stars and laser guide stars and also fov. They are doing all this work because of the upcoming VLT which will require AO for specific science projects like planet hunting. The bottom line is that it is working and delivers better pictures than the HST so far.

[75BC]

Amazing technology.
There was an article in S & T, I think it was last year about adaptive optics.
Using actuators to deform the mirror at phenomenal speeds.