File:The technology behind the astronomy (potw2301a).jpg
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[edit]DescriptionThe technology behind the astronomy (potw2301a).jpg |
English: The technical and engineering achievement behind the astronomical images and discoveries produced by scientists using ESO facilities is exceptionally marvelous. Here we see the fourth Unit Telescope (Yepun) of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, which hosts several advanced instruments, such as MUSE, HAWK-I and ERIS. These instruments, engineered to study the mysteries of the Universe, such as planets, stellar nurseries, and supermassive black holes, would never be able to do so without the Adaptive Optics Facility (AOF). One of the components of the AOF is the 4 Laser Guide Star Facility (4LGSF). The lasers are emitted from the four black tubes seen in this image around the telescope’s 8.2-m mirror. Each laser beam is 30 centimeters wide and carries 22 watts of power! As the lasers reach about 90 kilometers into Earth’s atmosphere, they excite sodium atoms, making them glow, just like a star.Special sensors in each instrument measure the twinkling of these artificial stars in real time. Instructions are sent to the telescope’s deformable secondary mirror, which reshapes at millisecond speeds. This counteracts atmospheric turbulence, delivering crystal clear images. |
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Date | 2 January 2023 (upload date) | ||
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Author | <a href="http://bardon.cz/">Zdeněk Bardon</a>/ESO | ||
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Licensing
[edit]This media was created by the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
Their website states: "Unless specifically noted, the images, videos, and music distributed on the public ESO website, along with the texts of press releases, announcements, pictures of the week, blog posts and captions, are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, and may on a non-exclusive basis be reproduced without fee provided the credit is clear and visible." To the uploader: You must provide a link (URL) to the original file and the authorship information if available. | |
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
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current | 14:15, 8 April 2023 | 5,723 × 3,808 (6.08 MB) | OptimusPrimeBot (talk | contribs) | #Spacemedia - Upload of https://cdn.eso.org/images/large/potw2301a.jpg via Commons:Spacemedia |
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This file contains additional information such as Exif metadata which may have been added by the digital camera, scanner, or software program used to create or digitize it. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file. The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong.
Author | ZDENEK BARDON |
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ISO speed rating | 4,000 |
Date and time of data generation | 22:19, 30 March 2022 |
Credit/Provider | Zdeněk Bardon/ESO |
Source | European Southern Observatory |
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Software used | Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 11.3 (Macintosh) |
File change date and time | 10:23, 8 July 2022 |
Serial number of camera | 6001896 |
Lens used | 18mm f/2.8 |
Date and time of digitizing | 22:19, 30 March 2022 |
Date metadata was last modified | 12:23, 8 July 2022 |
Unique ID of original document | 0F1F142A72EB280E303D260DD120BCA8 |
Keywords | VLT Unit Telescopes |
Contact information |
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2 Garching bei München, None, D-85748 Germany |
IIM version | 4 |