ULTRASHARP IMAGES OBTAINED WITH LARGE TELESCOPE IN ARIZONA

press release photos, images (click on images for larger view), and movies page

The new technology deformable secondary mirror being mounted at the telescope

Figure 1: The new technology deformable secondary mirror being installed at the 6.5 meter MMT telescope at Mt. Hopkins, Arizona. The secondary mirror is a joint project of University of Arizona and the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics - Arcetri Observatory (shown from left to right: Michael Lloyd-Hart, Francois Wildi, & Laird Close)
Photo credit: CAAO, Steward Observatory
 
 

The New Deformable Secondary Mounted at the MMT telescope, Mt Hopkins, Arizona

Figure 2: A photo of the new technology Deformable Secondary Mirror mounted at the 6.5 meter Multiple-Mirror Telescope (MMT), Mt Hopkins, Arizona
Photo Credit: Francois Wildi, CAAO, Steward Observatory (fwildi@as.arizona.edu)
 
 

A sharp image of a binary star made by the MMT AO system

Figure 3: A typical example of how the the Adaptive Optics (AO) system can make very sharp images (twice as sharp as the smaller 2.4 meter Hubble space telescope can make at H band --1.65 micron wavelengths).
Photo Credit: Laird Close, CAAO, Steward Observatory (lclose@as.arizona.edu)

Click to see a MOVIE (AVI format, 680kB) of the Adaptive Optics system "closing the loop" on this target (ADS 8939). Note how the binary nature of the star is completely hidden by the blurring of the atmosphere, but then after the loop is closed it is clearly a binary star. (Movie Credit: Guido Brusa, CAAO, Steward Observatory (gbrusa@as.arizona.edu))
 
 
 
 

There is a great improvement in image quality when turning on the MMT AO system

Figure 4: A typical example of how the the Adaptive Optics (AO) system can make very sharp images. With AO "OFF" this object appears to be just 2 stars. With AO turned "ON" it is clearly a tight group of 4 visual stars (2 of these are in a tight 0.1" binary, one is the bright guide star, and the other is a rarely seen very faint companion slightly to the right (and 100x fainter) than the bright star -- see white arrow). For more technical details about this image click here.
Photo Credit: Laird Close, CAAO, Steward Observatory (lclose@as.arizona.edu)

Click to see a MOVIE (AVI format, 2.2 MB) of the Adaptive Optics system "closing the loop, opening the loop, then closing the loop" on this target (Theta Ori 1 B). With AO this object appears to be just 2 stars, but with AO turned on it is revealed that the lower "star" is really a 0.1" binary. (Movie Credit: Guido Brusa, CAAO, Steward Observatory (gbrusa@as.arizona.edu))
 
 

A deep image of a single star shows a very smooth pattern which is close to perfect

Figure 5: A very deep image of a bright (V=6) single star at H (1.65 microns). The pattern of light (called a point spread function (PSF)) is almost exactly like that predicted for a 6.5 meter telescope (a Strehl of 100% is absolutely perfect and is never achieved in reality at a wavelength of 1.6 microns). This image has had some post-detection processing to remove a residual 0.020" rms jitter not corrected by the AO system. The raw AO image (no jitter correction) had a slightly lower Strehl 28% which is in agreement with theory when only 52 different modes are being corrected. Hence the AO system is working very close to the level expected for 52 modes of correction.
Photo Credit: Laird Close, CAAO, Steward Observatory (lclose@as.arizona.edu)
 
 

Splitting a very tight binary star is now possible with the MMT AO system

Figure 6: An other example of the AO system splitting a very tight binary star.
Photo Credit: Laird Close, CAAO, Steward Observatory (lclose@as.arizona.edu)
 

AO off and on at 10.3 microns

Figure 7: The first AO images made in the mid-infrared (wavelength of 10.3 microns). With AO on the Strehl is 96% whereas with it off it is only 58%. Note that the AO on image is nearly perfect. Such AO corrected images allows one to remove the starlight with deep nulling interferometry (see next figure).
Photo Credit: Phil Hinz (Steward Observatory, phinz@as.arizona.edu)
 
 

A star before and after nulling

Figure 8: The first low-emmissivity (6%) nulling images. To the right 98% of the light from the central star is removed by nulling. This will reveal any nearby objects that would be hidden by the glare of the bright central star. This is a new and powerful technique that has great scientific promise to detect extra-solar planets and circumstellar disks etc.
Photo Credit: Phil Hinz (Steward Observatory, phinz@as.arizona.edu)