ESO's VLTI beams four lasers towards the Tarantula Nebula
Updated
Updated · Space.com · May 4
ESO's VLTI beams four lasers towards the Tarantula Nebula
5 articles · Updated · Space.com · May 4
From Cerro Paranal in Chile's Atacama Desert, the European Southern Observatory said the beams create artificial stars to track atmospheric turbulence.
Astronomers analyse how the laser points blur in Earth's atmosphere, then use computer algorithms and adaptive optics to cancel distortion and sharpen observations.
The Tarantula Nebula lies about 160,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, while VLTI's four-telescope laser guide star system has been in use since 2016.
As telescopes fire powerful lasers into space, how do they avoid blinding the thousands of satellites now orbiting Earth?
With AI-powered upgrades, can Earth's laser-guided telescopes finally outperform space telescopes like the James Webb?
This planet-finding tech also scans human eyes. How will it revolutionize diagnoses for diseases like Alzheimer's?