ESO's VLT in Chile Uses Lasers to Create Artificial Stars

en.Wedoany.com Reported - The European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile uses its four Unit Telescopes (UT) to fire lasers toward the center of the Milky Way, creating "artificial stars" about 90 kilometers above the Earth's surface in the atmosphere. These assist the telescope in real-time correction of observational distortions caused by atmospheric turbulence.

These laser beams, aimed at the galactic center, are not a science fiction scene but a real scientific apparatus. As the laser beams pass through clouds, four luminous spots appear along their paths—a result of the beams being scattered by the clouds; near the center of the Milky Way, where the beams appear to converge, four even smaller points of light can also be seen.

This photo was taken by ESO astronomer Anthony Berdeu from the VLT platform. He said that when the lasers were first pointed toward the galactic center, he climbed onto the platform to capture this scene. Located in Chile, the Very Large Telescope (VLT) uses these artificial guide stars to allow scientists to measure in real time how much the Earth's atmosphere distorts incoming light, enabling them to adjust the telescope's parameters and ensure clear images of the universe are obtained.

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