Adding an “artificial” star to the multitude in the sky

Below the trails left by the stars in a dark and clear night, a laser beam shoots out of Yepun, the fourth Unit Telescope of Europe’s flagship observatory, ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). This beam is used to create an artificial star above Paranal to assist the adaptive optics instruments on the VLT. 

Adaptive optics is a technique that allows astronomers to overcome the blurring effect of the atmosphere and obtain images almost as sharp as would be possible if the whole telescope were placed in space, above Earth's atmosphere.

Źródło:

O zdjęciu

Identyfikator:yb_lgs_cc
Typ:Fotograficzny
Data publikacji:3 grudnia 2009 23:19
Rozmiar:2592 x 3888 px

O obiekcie

Nazwa:Very Large Telescope
Typ:Unspecified : Technology : Observatory : Telescope
Milky Way : Sky Phenomenon : Night Sky : Trail : Star
Kategoria:Paranal

Formaty zdjęć

Pełen rozmiar
14,4 MB
Wielki JPEG
2,5 MB

Powiększenie


Tapety

1024x768
247,2 KB
1280x1024
404,3 KB
1600x1200
577,7 KB
1920x1200
668,6 KB
2048x1536
912,2 KB