an optical system used in some telescopes since the 1980's which rapidly changes the shape of the primary reflecting mirror to adjust for distortions of light which are caused by atmospheric turbulence. By reducing the distortions caused by the atmosphere, telescopes fitted with such optics can achieve a higher resolving power than normal telescopes with static mirrors.
System by which a telescope utlizes computer technology to correct for atmospheric effects on its image.
Optics that allow ground-based telescopes to achieve the same clarity as space-based telescopes by correcting for atmospheric distortion.
Corrects for the distorting effects of the atmosphere on incoming light. Some systems use a beam splitter, a reference or artificial star and powerful computer processing to deform small tertiary mirror at a frequency of several hundred hertz to compensate for the distortions. Current systems work better at IR wavebands than in optical light.
A technique for removing temporally and spatially varying optical wave front aberrations in real time. Applications include optics, lasers and medicine, but one of the most exciting is correcting blurred images in large ground-based astronomical telescopes.
Technology allowing astronomers to compensate for instability in Earth's atmosphere by reshaping the figure, or curvature, of a telescope's primary or secondary mirror. In this way, the telescope is able to produce sharper and more detailed images than conditions would otherwise allow.
Technique used to increase the resolution of a telescope by deforming the shape of the mirror's surface under computer control while a measurement is being taken, to undo the effects of atmospheric turbulence.
Computer controlled telescope mirrors that can adjust for some changes in seeing conditions
optical assemblies or components whose performance is monitored with a wavefront sensor and controlled so as to compensate for the aberrations by a wavefront compensator.
a kind of optics that allows the correction, on an astronomical image, of the defects due to the atmospheric turbulence, which deforms the path of the luminous rays.
a technique that compensates for atmospheric turbulence by quickly adjusting the light path in the optics. This removes seeing effects and enables the telescope to achieve much better resolution, closer to its theoretical resolving power.
Adaptive optics is a technology to improve the performance of optical systems by reducing the effects of rapidly changing optical distortion. It is commonly used on astronomical telescopes to remove the effects of atmospheric distortion, or astronomical seeing. Adaptive optics works by measuring the distortion and rapidly compensating for it either using deformable mirrors or material with variable refractive properties.