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 --