4 ms·
While light pollution is a problem, with lasers and adaptive optics observations can be made. From the article: "The solution is lasers. Lick’s Shane telescope
by rietta 6y ago
While light pollution is a problem, with lasers and adaptive optics observations can be made. From the article:
"The solution is lasers. Lick’s Shane telescope wields an adaptive optics system, which fires a beam into the atmosphere. “Adaptive optics measures the turbulence hundreds or thousands of times a second, and then changes the shape of a special mirror, called the deformable mirror, to take away the blurring,” says Max.
The Shane telescope also has a larger mirror than Hubble: 3 meters compared to 2.4 meters. So if there happens to be a bright enough star nearby your viewing target, Max says, “you can get the same kind of spatial resolution that Hubble gets, because our telescope is more or less the same size, and we're taking away the blurring of the atmosphere with adaptive optics.”"
- gruturo 6y agoLasers+Adaptive optics compensate for the blurriness induced by the atmosphere, but not for the light pollution. The whole sky glows because of it, and items significantly fainter than the glow baseline are lost, even in long exposures.
- PopeDotNinja 6y agoI visited La Palma in the Canary Islands just before the lockdown in Spain. La Palma has a huge observatory, and I learned that the island is a starlight reserve. They take active measures to diminish the effects of light pollution, such as using special street lights, limiting flights at night, etc. If you ever get a chance to visit, La Palma is am amazing place. https://www.aboutlapalma.com/la-palma-astromony.html https://www.aboutlapalma.com/la-palma-astromony.html https://photos.app.goo.gl/JcD1bCUb1asU9VcE8 https://photos.app.goo.gl/JcD1bCUb1asU9VcE8
- privong 6y agoTucson, AZ is another place that has rules to guard against light pollution. This is to keep skies dark for the nearby observatories. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucson,_Arizona#Light_pollution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucson,_Arizona#Light_pollutio...
- throw0101a 6y agoDamn, I haven't seen Sun Ultras in a long time (I used to admin them).