Creating artificial stars at the VLT
Adaptive optics employed by the Very Large Telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatory correct for distortions introduced by the Earth's atmosphere. However to function, adaptive optics requires a fairly bright reference star close to the object of study which naturally is not always possible. To mitigate this issue, astronomers can create artificial stars instead by shining a powerful laser beam into the Earth's upper atmosphere. These laser guide stars allow almost the entire visible sky to be observed with adaptive optics.
Credit:About the Image
Id: | pao_4472-cc |
Type: | Photographic |
Release date: | 28 January 2021, 17:32 |
Size: | 6048 x 4024 px |
About the Object
Name: | Laser Guide Star, Very Large Telescope |
Type: | Unspecified : Technology : Observatory |
Category: | Paranal |
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