A Giant Leap Towards Defeating Astronomy’s Greatest Enemy: Earth’s Atmosphere
The Giant Magellan Telescope, as it will appear at night upon completion. As humanity works together … [+]
In astronomy, seeing farther and fainter than ever before requires three simultaneous approaches.
First light, on April 26, 2016, of the 4LGSF (4 Laser Guide Star Facility). This is presently the … [+]
1.) Building bigger telescopes, gathering more light and yielding higher resolutions.
A comparison of the mirror sizes of various existing and proposed telescopes. When the Giant … [+]
2.) Upgrading your instruments, optimizing the data from each arriving photon.
The ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) contains a new imaging instrument on it, SPHERE, which allows … [+]
3.) Overcoming the distortive effects of Earth’s atmosphere.
This 2-panel shows observations of the Galactic Center with and without Adaptive Optics, … [+]
The easiest way to overcome the atmosphere is from space, avoiding it entirely.
The Hubble Space Telescope, as imaged during its last and final servicing mission. Although it … [+]
However, space telescopes are expensive, hard to service, and size/payload-limited.
The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), with a main mirror 39 metres in diameter, will be the world’s … [+]
Significantly larger telescopes can be constructed on the ground, where Earth’s atmosphere is unavoidable.
The summit of Mauna Kea contains many of the world’s most advanced, powerful telescopes. This is due … [+]
Even at high altitudes, with smooth, dry air and cloudless skies, atmospheric distortion is severely limiting.
On the now under-construction Giant Magellan Telescope, each of the main seven primary mirrors will … [+]
That’s where the science of Adaptive Optics comes in.
Exploded view of an adaptive secondary mirror segment that will be part of the GMT. It shows the key … [+]
Read More: A Giant Leap Towards Defeating Astronomy’s Greatest Enemy: Earth’s Atmosphere