Skip to content
AsteriaStar
Instrumentation

Deformable Mirror

A thin mirror whose surface is reshaped hundreds or thousands of times a second by an array of actuators, cancelling the distortion the atmosphere imposes on starlight in real time. The active heart of adaptive optics — the ELT's M4 is one of the largest ever built.

Used across the frontier

Knowledge connections

Sources

The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.

  • ESOEuropean Southern Observatory

    Southern-hemisphere observatory data and imagery (VLT, ALMA partner).