Introduction to Adaptive Optics

• Why do astronomers need adaptive optics: 1
• Why do astronomers need adaptive optics: 1
• Images of a star with and without adaptive optics
• How to correct for atmospheric blurring
• How a Hartmann sensor measures wavefront tilt
• Wavefront sensors use fast CCDs
• How a deformable mirror works
• Adaptive optics divides the telescope pupil into patches
• Deformable mirrors
• Components of an adaptive optics system
• Adaptive optics at Lick Observatory
• Adaptive optics on the Lick 3-m telescope
• The Lick 3-m adpative optics bench
• Performance of the Lick system
• Adaptive optics on Mauna Kea
• The Keck Telescopes
• The Keck Telescopes
• Inside the Keck II dome
• Adaptive optics at Keck is spectacular
• Movies of an asteroid
• Jupiter's moon Io
• Saturn's moon Titan
• Hubble images of Titan
• Titan imaged with adaptive optics
• Surface feature on Titan
• Weather on the giant planets: Neptune
• Neptune: what can AO do?
• Neptune: in the infrared
• Is there a black hole in the center of the Milky Way
• The Galactic Center at 2.2 microns
• Adaptive optics and visions science
• Adaptive optics provides the finest images of the retina
• First images of the three kinds of cones in the living human retina