The expansion of adaptive optics (AO) from an "instrument" concept to a "facility" concept, like the AO Facility (AOF) on UT4, has been a huge success. AO is now routinely used on UT4, enabling exquisite science on the smallest spatial scales while providing more stable image quality during longer exposures. This success, however, has led to a large imbalance in telescope pressure factors in the past few periods with many users wanting to benefit from these assets. To address this hurdle and ensure more highly-rated community proposals get scheduled, ESO is launching several key actions. One of these initiatives is the "Second Generation Deformable Secondary Mirror" project (2GDSM).
Approved: UT3 to Gain Adaptive Optics Capabilities with New Deformable Secondary Mirror
Published: 11 Dec 2025
This project leverages the new Laser Guide Star (LGS) capabilities recently provided to all UTs by the GRAVITY+ project. UT3 has been identified as the most suitable telescope to host the 2GDSM. The plan involves equipping UT3 with this advanced AO technology and reallocating instruments that possess their own wavefront sensing capabilities to directly benefit from the AO correction thus alleviating the pressure unbalanced across UTs. Additionally, the project will be integrated with the efforts led by the Paranal team to refurbish the highly successful deformable secondary mirror (DSM) currently hosted by UT4.