Adaptive Optics
In the summer of 2010, the "First Light Adaptive Optics" (FLAO) - an adaptive optics system with a deformable secondary mirror rather than correcting atmospheric distortion further downstream in the optics - was inaugurated. Using one 8.4 m side, it surpassed Hubble sharpness (at certain light wavelengths), achieving a Strehl ratio of 60-80% rather than the 20-30% of older adaptive optic systems, or the 1% typically achieved without adaptive optics for telescopes of this size. Adaptive optics at a telescope's secondary (M2) was previously tested at MMT Observatory by the Arcetri Observatory and University of Arizona team.
Read more about this topic: Large Binocular Telescope
Famous quotes containing the word adaptive:
“The shift from the perception of the child as innocent to the perception of the child as competent has greatly increased the demands on contemporary children for maturity, for participating in competitive sports, for early academic achievement, and for protecting themselves against adults who might do them harm. While children might be able to cope with any one of those demands taken singly, taken together they often exceed children’s adaptive capacity.”
—David Elkind (20th century)