All articles tagged with #adaptive optics
The European Southern Observatory uses lasers on the Very Large Telescope Interferometer to create artificial guide stars ~90 km up, enabling adaptive optics that correct atmospheric blur and deliver sharper observations of the Tarantula Nebula as part of the GRAVITY+ upgrade.
A Chinese team demonstrated a 1 Gbps optical downlink from a geostationary satellite to a ground telescope using only 2 watts of transmitter power. By combining adaptive optics and mode-diversity reception, they recovered a usable signal despite atmospheric turbulence, showing that low-power GEO laser links can achieve high data rates and enable continuous, ground-connected space communications—though this remains a single demonstration with specialized ground infrastructure, not a commercial service.
Astronomers use ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer to project four laser guide stars into the upper atmosphere, enabling adaptive optics that correct atmospheric distortion and produce crisper, space-like images from ground-based telescopes, including detailed studies of distant regions like the Tarantula Nebula.
ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer fires four lasers into the Tarantula Nebula to create artificial guide stars, helping compensate for Earth's atmosphere with adaptive optics and sharpen distant space images; the Tarantula Nebula sits about 160,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and this highlights laser guide star technology as a growing tool in astronomy.
The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is entering its final design phase and seeks continued NSF federal funding plus more private donations to cover its roughly $2 billion cost. With seven 8.4-meter mirrors and advanced adaptive optics, GMT will aim to image habitable-zone exoplanets, map gas around distant galaxies, and push astronomy into the 2030s alongside ELT and TMT, contingent on securing the necessary funding and partnerships.
Chinese researchers demonstrated a 1 Gbps optical downlink from a geostationary satellite about 36,000 km away using a 2-watt laser and a ground receiver built to correct atmospheric distortion, achieving higher speeds than Starlink and showing how adaptive optics plus multi-plane light conversion can recover usable data through turbulence.
Space.com highlights a European Southern Observatory photo showing the Milky Way over Chile’s Paranal Observatory while four Unit Telescopes of the Very Large Telescope fire lasers high in the atmosphere to create artificial guide stars. These glow-displays let adaptive optics systems correct for Earth’s atmospheric blur in real time, sharpening observations. The UTs Antu, Kueyen, Yepun and Melipal work together (Melipal’s laser use dates to 2016; the other three were added in December 2025 to support VLTI and GRAVITY+), showcasing the VLT’s capability to peer deeper into the universe as lasers illuminate the sky above Chile.
The article discusses the development of a deformable mirror used in adaptive optics systems to correct atmospheric distortions in astronomy. It details the construction of the mirror with a quartz glass face, actuators made of copper wire coils and magnets, and the improvements made to increase control and precision, enabling high-resolution solar imaging.
Astronomers have captured the first direct photo of a baby planet, WISPIT 2b, forming inside a dusty disk around a young star using advanced adaptive optics, providing new insights into planet formation and confirming that protoplanets can create gaps in protoplanetary disks.
New high-resolution images of the Sun's corona, achieved through advanced adaptive optics technology, reveal unprecedented fine structures, potentially unlocking answers to longstanding questions like the coronal heating problem and solar eruptions. This breakthrough, led by the National Solar Observatory, enhances ground-based solar observation capabilities and promises to revolutionize solar physics research.
Scientists have achieved the sharpest-ever images of the sun's corona using advanced adaptive optics, revealing new features like delicate coronal rain, a rapidly forming plasma 'plasmoid', and dynamic solar prominences, which could help solve longstanding mysteries about solar heating and space weather phenomena.
New coronal adaptive optics technology has enabled unprecedented high-resolution images of the sun's corona, revealing fine structures, turbulent flows, and phenomena like coronal rain, which could lead to breakthroughs in understanding solar activity and space weather. The system, installed at the Big Bear Solar Observatory, corrects atmospheric turbulence, allowing for detailed observation of the sun's outer atmosphere and promising future applications at larger telescopes.
Over the past 25 years, advancements in lightweight mirror technology and segmented mirrors have led to the construction of mega-telescopes, significantly enhancing our ability to explore the universe. These telescopes, such as the Keck Observatory and the Very Large Telescope, have enabled groundbreaking discoveries, including the confirmation of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way and the first direct image of an exoplanet. Future projects like the Extremely Large Telescope aim to further our understanding, although challenges such as climate change and satellite constellations pose potential threats to ground-based astronomy.
Researchers at the University of Rochester used adaptive optics to identify rare retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in the human fovea, challenging existing theories of color perception based on three types of cone photoreceptors. These non-cardinal RGCs may play a role in creating more nuanced color perception, potentially leading to advanced vision restoration techniques and improved retinal prosthetic designs. The study received support from prestigious institutions and could have a significant impact on vision science.
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have utilized artificial intelligence (AI) to significantly improve the speed and quality of retinal imaging, making it 100 times faster and enhancing image contrast 3.5-fold. By integrating AI with adaptive optics optical coherence tomography (OCT), the new method, called parallel discriminator generative adverbial network (P-GAN), successfully de-speckles retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) images, providing a better tool for evaluating age-related macular degeneration and other retinal diseases. This advancement is expected to make AO imaging more accessible for routine clinical applications and studies aimed at understanding blinding retinal diseases.