Computer Science – Sound
Scientific paper
Dec 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001eso..pres...25.&link_type=abstract
ESO Press Release, 12/2001
Computer Science
Sound
Scientific paper
Very Promising Start-Up of New Adaptive Optics Instrument at Paranal
Summary
A team of astronomers and engineers from French and German research institutes and ESO at the Paranal Observatory is celebrating the successful accomplishment of "First Light" for the NAOS-CONICA Adaptive Optics facility . With this event, another important milestone for the Very Large Telescope (VLT) project has been passed.
Normally, the achievable image sharpness of a ground-based telescope is limited by the effect of atmospheric turbulence. However, with the Adaptive Optics (AO) technique, this drawback can be overcome and the telescope produces images that are at the theoretical limit, i.e., as sharp as if it were in space .
Adaptive Optics works by means of a computer-controlled, flexible mirror that counteracts the image distortion induced by atmospheric turbulence in real time. The larger the main mirror of the telescope is, and the shorter the wavelength of the observed light, the sharper will be the images recorded.
During a preceding four-week period of hard and concentrated work, the expert team assembled and installed this major astronomical instrument at the 8.2-m VLT YEPUN Unit Telescope (UT4). On November 25, 2001, following careful adjustments of this complex apparatus, a steady stream of photons from a southern star bounced off the computer-controlled deformable mirror inside NAOS and proceeded to form in CONICA the sharpest image produced so far by one of the VLT telescopes.
With a core angular diameter of only 0.07 arcsec, this image is near the theoretical limit possible for a telescope of this size and at the infrared wavelength used for this demonstration (the K-band at 2.2 µm). Subsequent tests reached the spectacular performance of 0.04 arcsec in the J-band (wavelength 1.2 µm).
"I am proud of this impressive achievement", says ESO Director General Catherine Cesarsky. "It shows the true potential of European science and technology and it provides a fine demonstration of the value of international collaboration. ESO and its partner institutes and companies in France and Germany have worked a long time towards this goal - with the first, extremely promising results, we shall soon be able to offer a new and fully tuned instrument to our wide research community."
The NAOS adaptive optics corrector was built, under an ESO contract, by Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (ONERA) , Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Grenoble (LAOG) and the DESPA and DASGAL laboratories of the Observatoire de Paris in France, in collaboration with ESO. The CONICA infra-red camera was built, under an ESO contract, by the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA) (Heidelberg) and the Max-Planck Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) (Garching) in Germany, in collaboration with ESO.
The present event happens less than four weeks after "First Fringes" were achieved for the VLT Interferometer (VLTI) with two of the 8.2-m Unit Telescopes. No wonder that a spirit of great enthusiasm reigns at Paranal!
Information for the media: ESO is producing a Video News Release ( ESO Video News Reel No. 13 ) with sequences from the NAOS-CONICA "First Light" event at Paranal, a computer animation illustrating the principle of adaptive optics in NAOS-CONICA, as well as the first astronomical images obtained. In addition to the usual distribution, this VNR will also be transmitted via satellite Friday 7 December 2001 from 09:00 to 09:15 CET (10:00 to 10:15 UT) on "Europe by Satellite" . These video images may be used free of charge by broadcasters. Satellite details, the script and the shotlist will be on-line from 6 December on the ESA TV Service Website http://television.esa.int. Also a pre-view Real Video Stream of the video news release will be available as of that date from this URL.
Video Clip 07/01 : Various video scenes related to the NAOS-CONICA "First Light" Event ( ESO Video News Reel No. 13 ). PR Photo 33a/01 : NAOS-CONICA "First light" image of an 8-mag star. PR Photo 33b/01 : The moment of "First Light" at the YEPUN Control Consoles. PR Photo 33c/01 : Image of NGC 3603 (K-band) area (NAOS-CONICA) . PR Photo 33d/01 : Image of NGC 3603 wider field (ISAAC) PR Photo 33e/01 : I-band HST-WFPC2 image of NGC 3603 field . PR Photo 33f/01 : Animated GIF, with NAOS-CONICA (K-band) and HST-WFPC2 (I-band) images of NGC 3603 area PR Photo 33g/01 : Image of the Becklin-Neugebauer Object . PR Photo 33h/01 : Image of a very close double star . PR Photo 33i/01 : Image of a 17-magnitude reference star PR Photo 33j/01 : Image of the central area of the 30 Dor star cluster . PR Photo 33k/01 : The top of the Paranal Mountain (November 25, 2001). PR Photo 33l/01 : The NAOS-CONICA instrument attached to VLT YEPUN.. A very special moment at Paranal!
First light for NAOS-CONICA at the VLT - PR Video Clip 07/01]
ESO PR Video Clip 07/01 "First Light for NAOS-CONICA" (25 November 2001) (3850 frames/2:34 min) [MPEG Video+Audio; 160x120 pix; 3.6Mb] [MPEG Video+Audio; 320x240 pix; 8.9Mb] [RealMedia; streaming; 34kps] [RealMedia; streaming; 200kps]
ESO Video Clip 07/01 provides some background scenes and images around the NAOS-CONICA "First Light" event on November 25, 2001 (extracted from ESO Video News Reel No. 13 ). Contents: NGC 3603 image from ISAAC and a smaller field as observed by NAOS-CONICA ; the Paranal platform in the afternoon, before the event; YEPUN and NAOS-CONICA with cryostat sounds; Tension is rising in the VLT Control Room; Wavefront Sensor display; the "Loop is Closed"; happy team members; the first corrected image on the screen; Images of NGC 3603 by HST and VLT; 30 Doradus central cluster; BN Object in Orion; Statement by the Head of the ESO Instrument Division.
ESO PR Photo 33a/01
ESO PR Photo 33a/01 [Preview - JPEG: 317 x 400 pix - 27k] [Normal - JPEG: 800 x 634 pix - 176k]
ESO PR Photo 33b/01
ESO PR Photo 33b/01 [Preview - JPEG: 400 x 322 pix - 176k] [Normal - JPEG: 800 x 644 pix - 360k]
ESO PR Photo 33a/01 shows the first image in the infrared K-band (wavelength 2.2 µm) of a star (visual magnitude 8) obtained - before (left) and after (right) the adaptive optics was switched on (see the text). The middle panel displays the 3-D intensity profiles of these images, demonstrating the tremendous gain, both in image sharpness and central intensity. ESO PR Photo 33b/01 shows some of the NAOS-CONICA team members in the VLT Control Room at the moment of "First Light" in the night between November 25-26, 2001. From left to right: Thierry Fusco (ONERA), Clemens Storz (MPIA), Robin Arsenault (ESO), Gerard Rousset (ONERA).
The numerous boxes with the many NAOS and CONICA parts arrived at the ESO Paranal Observatory on October 24, 2001. Astronomers and engineers from ESO and the participating institutes and organisations then began the painstaking assembly of these very complex instruments on one of the Nasmyth platforms on the fourth VLT 8.2-m Unit Telescope, YEPUN .
Then followed days of technical tests and adjustments, working around the clock. In the afternoon of Sunday, November 25, the team finally declared the instrument fit to attempt its "First Light" observation. The YEPUN dome was opened at sunset and a small, rather apprehensive group gathered in the VLT Control Room, peering intensively at the computer screens over the shoulders of their colleagues, the telescope and instrument operators.
Time passed imperceptibly to those present, as the basic calibrations required at this early stage to bring NAOS-CONICA to full operational state were successfully completed. Everybody sensed the special moment approaching when, finally, the telescope operator pushed a button and the giant telescope started to turn smoothly towards the first test object, an otherwise undistinguished star in our Milky Way. Its non-corrected infra-red image was recorded by the CONICA detector array and soon appeared on the computer screen. It was already very good by astronomical standards, with a diameter of only 0.50 arsec (FWHM), cf. PR Photo 33a/01 (left) .
Then, by another command, the instrument operator switched
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