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  • Lasers...

    The 1.5 meter telescope and its associated laboratories house the world's first laser beacon adaptive optics system capable of correcting high-order distortions caused by atmospheric turbulence. In May 1991, the DoD declassified much of its research and development of adaptive optics. Laser beacon adaptive optics technology, developed at the 1.5 meter telescope, has the potential to revolutionize ground-based astronomy. The 1.5 meter telescope is a classical Cassegrainian optical design with a coudé path. Mounting optics for instrumentation are similar to those of the 3.5 meter telescope.



    More here,
    http://eyeball-series.org/sor-eyeball.htm
    http://www.de.afrl.af.mil/SOR/1_5m_telescope.htm
    A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!

  • #2
    Oh man that'd be cool as hell to see in person. :)

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    • #3
      That looks awfully familiar...

      I swear I've seen it before. I just can't recall where...
      Attached Files
      "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

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      • #4
        fog bank

        You know how to get a Chaps attention!

        Too bright by half

        Honestly, with that much dispersion and / or attenuation ... it ain't gonna reach a galaxcy far, far away.
        Where's the bloody gin? An army marches on its liver, not its ruddy stomach.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by The Chap View Post
          You know how to get a Chaps attention!

          Too bright by half

          Honestly, with that much dispersion and / or attenuation ... it ain't gonna reach a galaxcy far, far away.
          It doesn't have to. It just has to get through the atmosphere. If I understand correctly, the laser is acting as a sensor. You shoot the laser beam up to a receiver. The distortions in the laser beam when it is detected by the receiver tell you what kind of distortions you can expect in the light coming into your telescope. You jiggle your mirrors around to eliminate the distortions, and voila! you have a clear picture.
          I enjoy being wrong too much to change my mind.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by ArmchairGeneral View Post
            It doesn't have to. It just has to get through the atmosphere. If I understand correctly, the laser is acting as a sensor. You shoot the laser beam up to a receiver.
            It has to reflect on something and thats what Chap's point was. It aint gonna go far in to the Universe. It may help us to refine existing discoveries.
            A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Jay View Post
              It has to reflect on something and thats what Chap's point was. It aint gonna go far in to the Universe. It may help us to refine existing discoveries.
              It's not supposed to go far into the universe, because it has nothing to do with the actual telescopic work. All it has to do is go through the atmosphere. Granted, all this means is that ground based observatories will not have as much of a disadvantage in resolution compared to space based telescopes like Hubble. There are size limitations with space based telescopes, and that is another major factor in image resolution.This technology allows us to have the best of both worlds, i.e., no atmospheric distortion plus large mirror size. Also, for the cost of one Hubble, you can have multiple ground based telescopes. It may or may not deepen our view into the universe, depending on how effective the new technologies are, but it most certainly will widen our view, so that we can look in more directions at the same time. Either way, if it works, it should generate many new discoveries.
              Last edited by ArmchairGeneral; 20 Oct 06,, 20:05.
              I enjoy being wrong too much to change my mind.

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              • #8
                well you can't see across the universe anyways so it'd be pointless to try and look deeper. unless you want a better perspective of the past.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Defcon 6 View Post
                  well you can't see across the universe anyways so it'd be pointless to try and look deeper. unless you want a better perspective of the past.
                  That is exactly what they do want. One of the nice things about looking into deep, deep space is that you are also looking into deep, deep time, closer to when everything began. Assuming, of course, that there was a beginning.
                  I enjoy being wrong too much to change my mind.

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                  • #10
                    sigh.

                    Thank you Jay.

                    I really wish (I'm sure it's archeaology on this forum by now) the occasional bod had seen some of my early posts.

                    If folk looked it would save me having to roll my eyes, puff my chest out, and in appalling taste re-itterate that adaptive optics are not new to me. Uns.

                    Gosh, at push I might even know what LASER stands for.

                    Slap self on wrist - poor sarcasm.
                    Where's the bloody gin? An army marches on its liver, not its ruddy stomach.

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