It’s sometimes easy to forget that the light in the sky is an actual star. With how reliable it is and how busy we tend to be as humans, we can take that incredible fact and stow it away and largely ...

SANTA CRUZ, CA–Adaptive optics technology can remove the blurring effect of the Earth’s atmosphere that has long plagued astronomers, allowing ground-based telescopes to achieve a clarity of vision ...

Adaptive optics (AO) systems have become an indispensable tool in modern astronomy, enabling ground‐based telescopes to overcome the deleterious effects of atmospheric turbulence and achieve ...

For astronomers, it’s a magical moment: you’re staring at a monitor, and a blurry image of a cosmological object sharpens up, revealing new details. We call this “closing the loop,” a reference to the ...

Yes, it can! This is one facet of adaptive optics, which astronomical observatories can use to compensate for distortions in astronomical images caused by our atmosphere. Let’s set the stage first: ...

University of California, Berkeley, astronomers have taken advantage of a recently mounted laser guide star system at UC’s Lick Observatory to obtain sharp, twinkle-free images of the faint dusty ...

The next generation of adaptive optics has arrived at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) in Arizona, providing astronomers with a new level of image sharpness never before seen. Developed in a ...

In the quest for ultra-secure, long-range quantum communication, two major challenges stand in the way: the unpredictable nature of atmospheric turbulence and the limitations of current optical ...

As frustrating as having an atmosphere can be for physicists, it’s just as bad for astronomers, who have to deal with clouds, atmospheric absorption of certain wavelengths, and other irritations. One ...

Select an option below to continue reading this premium story. Already a Honolulu Star-Advertiser subscriber? Log in now to continue reading. The Geminids are unique because they originate from the ...