Posted on 05/07/2015 12:34:26 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: Did you ever want to just look through the eyepiece of a large telescope in space? If you could, you would see a sharp view that was diffraction limited. Unaffected by atmospheric blurring that ultimately plagues earthbound observers, the angular resolution of your diffraction limited view would be determined only by the wavelength of light and diameter of the telescope lens or mirror; the larger the diameter, the sharper the image. Still, in this working earth-based snapshot a new active adaptive optics system (MagAO) is being used to cancel out the atmospheric blurring in a visual observation of famous double star system Alpha Centauri. Testing the system at the eyepiece of the 6.5 meter diameter Magellan Clay Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, astronomer Laird Close is enjoying a historic diffraction limited view (inset) and the wide apparent separation of the close binary star system ... without traveling to low earth orbit.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit and Copyright: Yuri Beletsky (Las Campanas Observatory, Carnegie Institution)]
From another frequent contributor to APoD.
I like it!
Eat your heart out, Reverend Dawes.
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de fraction be causen de earthquakes.
Sure, but the stars are really, really tiny...
Sorry, to disrupt.
But what is the very bright object in the western sky tonight? It’s brighter than any other *star* I’ve ever seen in the night sky.
Jupiter? Someone thought it might be the spacestation. I dunno.
I’m in central Connecticut......looking due west. Jes wondering
[ From Sky & Telescope ]
Thank you kindly. That’s what we thought....but I’ve never seen it so bright. It was stellar. Going to look again, tomorrow night.
It was bright enough tonight in Michigan with an unusually clear sky, could almost read by the light. :’)
It was very pleasant. So often, we have overcast and celestial joys are forbidden.
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