Ground-based telescopes that look in the visible and near-infrared wavelengths (colours visible by the human eye as well as more red) lose spatial information due to blurring of light by the Earth’s atmosphere. As a result, when we build bigger and bigger telescopes we collect more light but do not gain in image clarity/resolution. Adaptive optics (AO) is a technology used to physically correct, in real-time, the effects of the atmosphere and regain clear, sharp images. AO has enabled detailed studies of the galactic centre and its black hole as well as direct imaging of exoplanets among many others things.

Maaike van Kooten

While some AO systems are able to correct 80-90% of the distortion, we are not yet able to achieve the maximum possible resolution with large ground-based telescopes. In this talk, I will focus on the latest AO R&D happening in Victoria on our local telescopes and put it into context of the wider global AO community. I will also highlight the work being done at large facilities in Hawaii to further push the limits of our AO systems. Precise measurements, fast computing, minimal delay, exquisite control, high quality optics, and data reduction all need to come together and push the limits of what is possible from the ground to enable the next generation of large telescopes to make new discoveries.

I will show you how small things can have a big impact and how we are tackling these seemingly small things. AO is truly all in the details.