Adaptive Optics Improves the LBT

A telescope in Arizona has taken the sharpest pictures yet of deep space from Earth with a new system that provides a level of clarity never seen before.

The technology relies on adaptive optics – a mechanism that allows a telescope's mirror to bend in order to compensate for the blurring of light as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere.

The new system, installed on the $120 million Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) on Mount Graham in Arizona, has delivered images three times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope, LBT scientists said. And that's with only one of its twin 27.6-foot (8.4-meter) mirrors working.

"The results on the first night were so extraordinary that we thought it might be a fluke, but every night since then the adaptive optics have continued to exceed all expectations," said astronomer Simone Esposito, leader of a team from Italy's Arcetri Observatory of the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF). "These results were achieved using only one of LBT's mirrors. Imagine the potential when we have adaptive optics on both of LBT's giant eyes."…

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