Four Lasers Attacking the Galactic Center
by Jason Chu
Title
Four Lasers Attacking the Galactic Center
Artist
Jason Chu
Medium
Photograph
Description
Four lasers from four telescopes all simultaneously observing the Galactic Center, where a supermassive black hole resides (with a mass of 6 million Suns, crammed into a sphere of radius 1/10th the Earth-Sun distance). From left to right the lasers are being emitted from Gemini North Observatory (outside of frame), Keck II, Keck I, and Subaru Observatory. The lasers launched from telescopes are now commonly used to help increase the accuracy of astronomical observations. In some sky locations, Earth atmosphere-induced fluctuations in starlight can indicate how the air mass over a telescope is changing, but many times no bright star exists in the direction where atmospheric information is needed. In these cases, astronomers create an artificial star where they need it -- with a laser. Observations of the artificial laser guide star in real-time can reveal information so detailed about the blurring effects of the Earth's atmosphere, that much of this blurring can be removed by rapidly flexing the telescope mirror. Such adaptive optic techniques allow high-resolution ground-based observations of real stars, planets, and nebulae, rivaling the performance of space-based telescopes.
Featured on Astronomy Picture of the Day on 6/23/14.
Uploaded
June 20th, 2014
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