Second adaptive thin shell mirror delivered to ESO

A second shell mirror of remarkable quality has been delivered to ESO by Safran–Reosc. This is an improved version of an earlier shell mirror delivered in late 2011. Both mirrors are a mere 2 millimetres thin but 1.12 metres in diameter, and will be crucial for the upgrade of Unit Telescope 4 of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) to a fully adaptive system. A thin shell mirror is deformed several thousand times per second to compensate for turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere. The result is a much sharper image, allowing astronomers to study the Universe in greater detail than possible before.

Crédit:

ESO

À propos de l'image

Identification:ann14010a
Type:Photographique
Date de publication:4 février 2014 15:00
Annonces en rapport:ann14010
Taille:3501 x 2779 px

À propos de l'objet

Type:Unspecified : Technology : Observatory
Catégorie:Paranal

Formats des images

Grand JPEG
1,5 Mio
JPEG taille écran
190,4 Kio

Zoomable


Fonds d'écran

1024x768
230,7 Kio
1280x1024
346,5 Kio
1600x1200
459,4 Kio
1920x1200
490,7 Kio
2048x1536
673,8 Kio