http://tinyurl.com/pf474cd
July 3, 2013 - UniverseToday.com
Rise above Earth with a telescope, and one huge obstacle to astronomy
is removed: the atmosphere. We love breathing that oxygen-nitrogen mix,
but it’s sure not fun to peer through it. Ground-based telescopes have
to deal with air turbulence and other side effects of the air we need to
breathe.
Enter adaptive optics
— laser-based systems that can track the distortions in the air and
tell computers in powerful telescopes how to flex their mirrors. That
sparkling picture above came due to a new system at the Gemini South
telescope in Chile.