[Senator Pardek]

...adaptive optics...

By what it's called, I assume it's done in real-time (and done physically). I have audio software that removes noise (by first sampling the noise by itself and then removing it from the signal) but it's "after the fact".

Can you explain to a layman like myself how adaptive optics work? Seems Herculean to me.

[RightWhale]

It is really on the edge of technology. The mirror is segmented in several parts, each piece is mounted separately and can be aligned separately under automatic control. This can be used to cancel out atmospherics such as heat waves. Small telescopes have better resolution for their size because of atmospherics, and this system is essentially several smaller telescopes together. Net result, small aperture resolution with large aperature light gathering capability.