Faszination Astronomie: Schärfer als die Atmosphäre erlaubt – bessere Bilder als von Hubble, Webb & Co

The stunning images from the Hubble, James Webb, and other space telescopes owe their sharpness in no small part to the fact that no disruptive atmospheric turbulence can blur their view. But what if we could compensate for this disruptive influence? After all, there are much larger telescopes on Earth than in space, and ultimately, the achievable image sharpness—also known as resolution—is determined solely by the diameter of the telescope’s primary mirror.

This lecture explains exactly what “image sharpness” actually is, how it is influenced by optics and the atmosphere, and what it means scientifically to have sharper images. It will introduce adaptive optics (AO) technology, which can compensate for atmospheric image distortions in real time and is thus capable of delivering the sharpest images ever obtained with large telescopes. Last but not least, there are several examples of discoveries that would not have been possible without AO—even with space telescopes—ranging from direct images of planets outside the solar system, to observations of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, to images of volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon Io, and contributions to asteroid research.

You can find a map showing how to get to the House of Astronomy here:

https://www.haus-der-astronomie.de/de/kontakt-anfahrt