English subtitles for clip: File:ESOcast 119.webm

1
00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:04,700
ESO’s new Adaptive Optics Facility

2
00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:08,860
has just opened its eyes to the sky for the first time.

3
00:00:09,060 --> 00:00:12,380
Coupled with the revolutionary instrument MUSE,

4
00:00:12,380 --> 00:00:17,820
this is one of the most advanced and powerful technological systems ever built

5
00:00:17,820 --> 00:00:19,620
for ground-based astronomy.

6
00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:40,140
ESO’s Very Large Telescope, or the VLT, is built on the high, dry site

7
00:00:40,160 --> 00:00:43,960
of Cerro Paranal in Chile’s Atacama Desert.

8
00:00:44,700 --> 00:00:47,740
It boasts spectacular observing conditions

9
00:00:47,740 --> 00:00:51,140
and over 300 clear nights per year.

10
00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:57,720
But turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere still distorts the light of celestial objects,

11
00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:00,740
making astronomical images blurry.

12
00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:05,920
Ground-based telescopes can’t escape the atmosphere like space telescopes can.

13
00:01:06,140 --> 00:01:12,300
So, to combat this, ESO has transformed the Unit Telescope 4 of the VLT

14
00:01:12,300 --> 00:01:15,500
into a fully-adaptive telescope.

15
00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:24,260
The Adaptive Optics Facility is a cutting-edge system composed of many integral parts.

16
00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:29,760
Its four lasers create artificial stars in the upper atmosphere.

17
00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:36,200
An adaptive optics module uses these stars to map the turbulence in the atmosphere,

18
00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:41,480
then sends calculated corrections to the deformable secondary mirror.

19
00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:48,720
This mirror can rapidly change its shape to correct the light it receives from a celestial object,

20
00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:52,320
compensating for the atmospheric disturbance.

21
00:01:53,840 --> 00:02:00,660
The Adaptive Optics Facility has just seen its first light with the powerful MUSE instrument.

22
00:02:01,860 --> 00:02:07,000
Using this dream team, astronomers captured spectacular images,

23
00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:13,440
revealing sharper details and fainter stars than possible without adaptive optics.

24
00:02:19,900 --> 00:02:24,460
Astronomers will harness the power of the Adaptive Optics Facility

25
00:02:24,460 --> 00:02:28,180
to image faint objects in the very distant Universe

26
00:02:28,180 --> 00:02:32,180
— in particular, galaxies still in their infancy.

27
00:02:32,180 --> 00:02:35,660
These are key to understanding how galaxies form.

28
00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:43,380
But MUSE is not the only one to benefit from the power of the Adaptive Optics Facility.

29
00:02:43,380 --> 00:02:47,680
In a near future, the system will turbo-charge the science

30
00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:51,120
produced by the HAWK-I and ERIS instruments.

31
00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:56,440
It is also a pathfinder for ESO’s next major project,

32
00:02:56,440 --> 00:03:00,840
the Extremely Large Telescope, or the ELT.

33
00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:06,600
Building the Adaptive Optics Facility has equipped ESO scientists and engineers

34
00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:14,000
with invaluable expertise that will now be used to overcome the challenges presented by the ELT.

35
00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:30,240
Transcription by ESO, Translation by --