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Old 27-11-2015, 01:22 PM
julianh72 (Julian)
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Kelvin Grove
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Highest resolution visual astronomy ever!

Reading this report https://visao.as.arizona.edu/eyepiec...ng-with-magao/ is bound to make you insanely jealous!

Visual observation of the Apha Centauri system at the diffraction limit of a 6.5-metre telescope (with adaptive optics)! (Actually, I'm a bit surprised that a modern adaptive- optics large telescope actually has an eyepiece holder!)

The eyepiece had a very red filter installed, passing wavelengths longer than 685 nm. This means the sharpest details in the image were as small as 22 milli-arcseconds. We’re pretty sure that this is the highest angular resolution image ever formed on a human retina.
...
During the night, 9 people looked through the eyepiece. These astronomers are the inaugural members of an exclusive club: “L’Ordine degli Astronomi al Limite di Diffrazione” (The Order of Astronomers at the Limit of Diffraction).
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