Laser beam creating an “artificial” star

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.

Créditos:

Sobre a imagem

Id:yb_lgs_beam_8864_cc
Tipo:Fotográfico
Data de divulgação:3 de Dezembro de 2009 às 23:19
Tamanho:2000 x 3000 px

Sobre o objeto

Nome:Very Large Telescope
Tipo:Unspecified : Technology : Observatory : Telescope
Categoria:Paranal

Formatos de imagens

JPEG grande
1,5 MB

Papéis de parede

1024x768
270,1 KB
1280x1024
429,3 KB
1600x1200
593,1 KB
1920x1200
680,5 KB
2048x1536
896,4 KB