Four laser Paranal

26 April 2016 at the Observatory of ESO in Chile Paranal was held the first observations using four powerful lasers, which constitute the bulk of the adaptive optics of the Very Large Telescope of ESO. Participants of the ceremony witnessed the unusual spectacle: the use of modern laser technology at the star-studded sky over Parakalem. Lasers of such power is first applied to create "artificial stars" in the astronomical observations. Besides, this is the first ESO experience with the use of several laser "artificial star".

The ceremony was attended by many employees of ESO, including the official ESO representative in Chile Fernando Komeron (Fernando Comerón), as well as senior representatives of companies that manufactured various components of the new adaptive-optical system.

The device has Four Laser Guide Star Facility (4LGSF) "shoots" in the sky four 22-watt laser beams, which makes it glow the sodium atoms in the upper layers of earth's atmosphere. In the result appear in the sky four luminous dots – "artificial stars" (guide stars), with which the adaptive optics system can compensate in real-time "blurring" the images under the influence of turbulent air flow in earth's atmosphere. Images generated by the telescopes, which are equipped with such a system, much clearer. The use of two lasers instead of one allows much more detail to record the distribution of the turbulent flows in the atmosphere and, therefore, improve the quality of astronomical images for a larger field of view.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»