Solar Adaptive Optics

Steve Hegwer, technical support manager of the Dunn Solar Telescope at the National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Solar Observatory (NSO) in Sunspot, N.M., inserts a white card into the light path of the Dunn's high-order adaptive optics system to check part of its operation. The system compensates for most of atmospheric blurring and allows the telescope to observe up to seven times sharper than before (0".14, corrected, compared to 1".0, uncorrected). Success with this project has paved the way for NSO to design and propose the NSF-funded four-meter Advanced Technology Solar Telescope, the world's largest optical solar telescope.

(Date of Image: unknown)

Credit: Dave Dooling, NSO/AURA/NSF