Instrumentation
Laser Guide Star
An artificial star created by shining a laser into the upper atmosphere, exciting sodium atoms ~90 km up to glow. It gives adaptive optics a bright reference point anywhere on the sky — not just near a real bright star — so the shape of the atmosphere's blur can be measured and corrected.
Highlights
- ›An artificial star, projected wherever the telescope points
Facilities, methods & instruments
Knowledge connections
- Associated withAdaptive Optics
- Associated withWavefront Sensor
- Associated withExtremely Large Telescope
- Associated withVery Large Telescope (VLT)
Sources
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- ESOEuropean Southern Observatory
Southern-hemisphere observatory data and imagery (VLT, ALMA partner).