Andrew Yee
February 23rd 06, 05:47 PM
ESO Education and Public Relations Dept.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Text with all links and the photos are available on the ESO
Website at URL:
http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2006/pr-07-06.html
--------------------------------------------------------------
Contacts:
Domenico Bonaccini Calia
ESO, Garching, Germany
Phone: +49 89 3200 6567
Richard Davies
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
Garching, Germany
Phone: +49 89 30000 3298
Stefan Hippler
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Heidelberg, Germany
Phone: +49 6221 528 265
For immediate release: 23 February 2006
ESO Instrument Release 07/06
Man-made Star Shines in the Southern Sky
First Light for the VLT Laser Guide Star Facility
Scientists celebrate another major milestone at Cerro Paranal in
Chile, home of ESO's Very Large Telescope array. Thanks to their
dedicated efforts, they were able to create the first artificial
star in the Southern Hemisphere, allowing astronomers to study
the Universe in the finest detail. This artificial laser guide
star makes it possible to apply adaptive optics systems, that
counteract the blurring effect of the atmosphere, almost
anywhere in the sky.
On 28 January 2006, at 23:07 local time, a laser beam of several
watts was launched from Yepun, the fourth 8.2m Unit Telescope of
the Very Large Telescope, producing an artificial star, 90 km up
in the atmosphere. Despite this star being about 20 times fainter
than the faintest star that can be seen with the unaided eye, it
is bright enough for the adaptive optics to measure and correct
the atmosphere's blurring effect. The event was greeted with much
enthusiasm and happiness by the people in the control room of
one of the most advanced astronomical facilities in the world.
It was the culmination of five years of collaborative work by
a team of scientists and engineers from ESO and the Max Planck
Institutes for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching and for
Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany.
After more than one month of integration on site with the
invaluable support of the Paranal Observatory staff, the VLT
Laser Guide Star Facility saw First Light and propagated into
the sky a 50cm wide, vivid, beautifully yellow beam.
"This event tonight marks the beginning of the Laser Guide Star
Adaptive Optics era for ESO's present and future telescopes",
said Domenico Bonaccini Calia, Head of the Laser Guide Star
group at ESO and LGSF Project Manager.
Normally, the achievable image sharpness of a ground-based
telescope is limited by the effect of atmospheric turbulence.
This drawback can be surmounted with adaptive optics, allowing
the telescope to produce images that are as sharp as if taken
from space. This means that finer details in astronomical
objects can be studied, and also that fainter objects can be
observed.
In order to work, adaptive optics needs a nearby reference star
that has to be relatively bright, thereby limiting the area
of the sky that can be surveyed. To overcome this limitation,
astronomers use a powerful laser that creates an artificial
star, where and when they need it.
The laser beam, shining at a well-defined wavelength, makes
the layer of sodium atoms that is present in Earth's atmosphere
at an altitude of 90 kilometres glow. The laser is hosted in a
dedicated laboratory under the platform of Yepun. A custom-made
fibre carries the high power laser to the launch telescope
situated on top of the large Unit Telescope.
An intense and exhilarating twelve days of tests followed the
First Light of the Laser Guide Star (LGS), during which the
LGS was used to improve the resolution of astronomical images
obtained with the two adaptive optics instruments in use on
Yepun: the NAOS-CONICA imager and the SINFONI spectrograph.
In the early hours of 9 February, the LGS could be used
together with the SINFONI instrument, while in the early
morning of 10 February, it was with the NAOS-CONICA system.
"To have succeeded in such a short time is an outstanding feat
and is a tribute to all those who have together worked so hard
over the last few years," said Richard Davies, project manager
for the laser source development at the Max Planck Institute
for Extraterrestrial Physics.
A second phase of commissioning will take place in the spring
with the aim of optimizing the operations and refining the
performances before the instrument is made available to the
astronomers, later this year. The experience gained with this
Laser Guide Star is also a key milestone in the design of the
next generation of Extremely Large Telescope in the 30 to 60
metre range that is now being studied by ESO together with
the European astronomical community.
High resolution images and their captions are available at
http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2006/phot-07-06.html
This press release is also accompanied by Broadcast quality material.
Notes
The Laser Guide Star Facility is a collaborative project
between ESO, the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial
Physics in Garching, Germany (MPE) and the Max Planck Institut
for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany (MPIA). The team members
are D. Bonaccini Calia, W. Hackenberg, M. Cullum, M. Dimmler,
I. Guidolin, C. Araujo, E. Allaert, D. Popovic, M. Comin,
M. Quattri, E. Brunetto, F. Koch, A. Silber, J-L. Alvarez,
M. Tapia, E. Bendek, J. Quentin, G. Fischer, M. Tarenghi,
G. Monnet, and R.Gilmozzi (ESO), R. Davies, S. Rabien, T. Ott,
R. Genzel, S.Kellner, S. Huber, W. Zaglauer, A. Goldbrunner,
and J. Li (MPE), and S. Hippler, U. Neumann, D. Butler,
R.-R. Rohloff, and B.Grimm (MPIA). Members of ESO's Adaptive
Optics team also participated to First Light: M. Kasper,
S. Stroebele, E. Fedrigo, R. Donaldson, S. Oberti, and
C. Soenke.
This press release is issued in coordination between ESO and
the Max Planck Society. A German version is available at
<http://www.mpg.de/bilderBerichteDokumente/dokumentation/pressemitteilungen/2006/>
ESO Media Contacts are on the Public Affairs Dept. Contact page.
National contacts for the media:
Belgium: Dr. Rodrigo Alvarez, +32-2-474 70 50
Finland: Ms. Riitta Tirronen, +358 9 7748 8369
Denmark: Dr. Michael Linden-Vørnle, +45-33-18 19 97
France: Dr. Daniel Kunth, +33-1-44 32 80 85
Germany: Dr. Jakob Staude, +49-6221-528229
Italy: Dr. Leopoldo Benacchio, benacchio @ inaf.it
The Netherlands: Ms. Marieke Baan, +31-20-525 74 80
Portugal: Prof. Teresa Lago, +351-22-089 833
Sweden: Dr. Jesper Sollerman, +46-8-55 37 85 54
Switzerland: Dr. Martin Steinacher, +41-31-324 23 82
United Kingdom: Mr. Peter Barratt, +44-1793-44 20 25
--------------------------------------------------------------
ESO Press Information is available on the WWW at
http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/
--------------------------------------------------------------
(c) ESO Education & Public Relations Department
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Text with all links and the photos are available on the ESO
Website at URL:
http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2006/pr-07-06.html
--------------------------------------------------------------
Contacts:
Domenico Bonaccini Calia
ESO, Garching, Germany
Phone: +49 89 3200 6567
Richard Davies
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
Garching, Germany
Phone: +49 89 30000 3298
Stefan Hippler
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Heidelberg, Germany
Phone: +49 6221 528 265
For immediate release: 23 February 2006
ESO Instrument Release 07/06
Man-made Star Shines in the Southern Sky
First Light for the VLT Laser Guide Star Facility
Scientists celebrate another major milestone at Cerro Paranal in
Chile, home of ESO's Very Large Telescope array. Thanks to their
dedicated efforts, they were able to create the first artificial
star in the Southern Hemisphere, allowing astronomers to study
the Universe in the finest detail. This artificial laser guide
star makes it possible to apply adaptive optics systems, that
counteract the blurring effect of the atmosphere, almost
anywhere in the sky.
On 28 January 2006, at 23:07 local time, a laser beam of several
watts was launched from Yepun, the fourth 8.2m Unit Telescope of
the Very Large Telescope, producing an artificial star, 90 km up
in the atmosphere. Despite this star being about 20 times fainter
than the faintest star that can be seen with the unaided eye, it
is bright enough for the adaptive optics to measure and correct
the atmosphere's blurring effect. The event was greeted with much
enthusiasm and happiness by the people in the control room of
one of the most advanced astronomical facilities in the world.
It was the culmination of five years of collaborative work by
a team of scientists and engineers from ESO and the Max Planck
Institutes for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching and for
Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany.
After more than one month of integration on site with the
invaluable support of the Paranal Observatory staff, the VLT
Laser Guide Star Facility saw First Light and propagated into
the sky a 50cm wide, vivid, beautifully yellow beam.
"This event tonight marks the beginning of the Laser Guide Star
Adaptive Optics era for ESO's present and future telescopes",
said Domenico Bonaccini Calia, Head of the Laser Guide Star
group at ESO and LGSF Project Manager.
Normally, the achievable image sharpness of a ground-based
telescope is limited by the effect of atmospheric turbulence.
This drawback can be surmounted with adaptive optics, allowing
the telescope to produce images that are as sharp as if taken
from space. This means that finer details in astronomical
objects can be studied, and also that fainter objects can be
observed.
In order to work, adaptive optics needs a nearby reference star
that has to be relatively bright, thereby limiting the area
of the sky that can be surveyed. To overcome this limitation,
astronomers use a powerful laser that creates an artificial
star, where and when they need it.
The laser beam, shining at a well-defined wavelength, makes
the layer of sodium atoms that is present in Earth's atmosphere
at an altitude of 90 kilometres glow. The laser is hosted in a
dedicated laboratory under the platform of Yepun. A custom-made
fibre carries the high power laser to the launch telescope
situated on top of the large Unit Telescope.
An intense and exhilarating twelve days of tests followed the
First Light of the Laser Guide Star (LGS), during which the
LGS was used to improve the resolution of astronomical images
obtained with the two adaptive optics instruments in use on
Yepun: the NAOS-CONICA imager and the SINFONI spectrograph.
In the early hours of 9 February, the LGS could be used
together with the SINFONI instrument, while in the early
morning of 10 February, it was with the NAOS-CONICA system.
"To have succeeded in such a short time is an outstanding feat
and is a tribute to all those who have together worked so hard
over the last few years," said Richard Davies, project manager
for the laser source development at the Max Planck Institute
for Extraterrestrial Physics.
A second phase of commissioning will take place in the spring
with the aim of optimizing the operations and refining the
performances before the instrument is made available to the
astronomers, later this year. The experience gained with this
Laser Guide Star is also a key milestone in the design of the
next generation of Extremely Large Telescope in the 30 to 60
metre range that is now being studied by ESO together with
the European astronomical community.
High resolution images and their captions are available at
http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2006/phot-07-06.html
This press release is also accompanied by Broadcast quality material.
Notes
The Laser Guide Star Facility is a collaborative project
between ESO, the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial
Physics in Garching, Germany (MPE) and the Max Planck Institut
for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany (MPIA). The team members
are D. Bonaccini Calia, W. Hackenberg, M. Cullum, M. Dimmler,
I. Guidolin, C. Araujo, E. Allaert, D. Popovic, M. Comin,
M. Quattri, E. Brunetto, F. Koch, A. Silber, J-L. Alvarez,
M. Tapia, E. Bendek, J. Quentin, G. Fischer, M. Tarenghi,
G. Monnet, and R.Gilmozzi (ESO), R. Davies, S. Rabien, T. Ott,
R. Genzel, S.Kellner, S. Huber, W. Zaglauer, A. Goldbrunner,
and J. Li (MPE), and S. Hippler, U. Neumann, D. Butler,
R.-R. Rohloff, and B.Grimm (MPIA). Members of ESO's Adaptive
Optics team also participated to First Light: M. Kasper,
S. Stroebele, E. Fedrigo, R. Donaldson, S. Oberti, and
C. Soenke.
This press release is issued in coordination between ESO and
the Max Planck Society. A German version is available at
<http://www.mpg.de/bilderBerichteDokumente/dokumentation/pressemitteilungen/2006/>
ESO Media Contacts are on the Public Affairs Dept. Contact page.
National contacts for the media:
Belgium: Dr. Rodrigo Alvarez, +32-2-474 70 50
Finland: Ms. Riitta Tirronen, +358 9 7748 8369
Denmark: Dr. Michael Linden-Vørnle, +45-33-18 19 97
France: Dr. Daniel Kunth, +33-1-44 32 80 85
Germany: Dr. Jakob Staude, +49-6221-528229
Italy: Dr. Leopoldo Benacchio, benacchio @ inaf.it
The Netherlands: Ms. Marieke Baan, +31-20-525 74 80
Portugal: Prof. Teresa Lago, +351-22-089 833
Sweden: Dr. Jesper Sollerman, +46-8-55 37 85 54
Switzerland: Dr. Martin Steinacher, +41-31-324 23 82
United Kingdom: Mr. Peter Barratt, +44-1793-44 20 25
--------------------------------------------------------------
ESO Press Information is available on the WWW at
http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/
--------------------------------------------------------------
(c) ESO Education & Public Relations Department
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany
--------------------------------------------------------------