TY - JOUR
T1 - Diffraction-limited K-band imaging at the Multiple Mirror Telescope with adaptive optics
AU - Lloyd-Hart, M.
AU - Colucci, D.
AU - Wittman, D.
AU - McLeod, B.
AU - Ghez, A.
AU - McCarthy, D.
AU - Dekany, R.
AU - Angel, R.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank ThermoTrex Corporation, who donated the adaptive mirror. The Flintridge Foundation pro- vided funds for the wave front computer. Infrared camera development was funded under NSF grant AST 88-22465. Further support has been provided by the NSF under grant AST 92-03336. R. D. acknowl- edges partial support from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Observations reported here were made at the Multiple Mirror Telescope Observatory, a joint facility of the University of Arizona and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
Publisher Copyright:
© 1993 SPIE. All rights reserved.
PY - 1993/8/25
Y1 - 1993/8/25
N2 - Low spatial frequencies of atmospheric turbulence are specially troublesome to astronomers because the phase distortions they cause have large amplitude. We have begun experiments at the Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) to remove these errors with tip, tilt, and piston control of pieces of the wave front defined by the telescope's six 1.8 m primary mirrors. We show long exposure images taken at the telescope with resolution as high as 0.08 arcsec under piston control, and 0.26 arcsec under tilt control, using an adaptive instrument designed to restore diffraction-limited imaging in the near infrared. We also present preliminary results from analysis of images of the pre-main sequence star T Tauri taken with tilt control of the six beams only, at three infrared wavelengths. The resolution is between 0.35 and 0.4 arcsec, higher than has previously been achieved with direct imaging. The faint red companion to T Tau is clearly revealed, and is seen to be undergoing an energetic outburst.
AB - Low spatial frequencies of atmospheric turbulence are specially troublesome to astronomers because the phase distortions they cause have large amplitude. We have begun experiments at the Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) to remove these errors with tip, tilt, and piston control of pieces of the wave front defined by the telescope's six 1.8 m primary mirrors. We show long exposure images taken at the telescope with resolution as high as 0.08 arcsec under piston control, and 0.26 arcsec under tilt control, using an adaptive instrument designed to restore diffraction-limited imaging in the near infrared. We also present preliminary results from analysis of images of the pre-main sequence star T Tauri taken with tilt control of the six beams only, at three infrared wavelengths. The resolution is between 0.35 and 0.4 arcsec, higher than has previously been achieved with direct imaging. The faint red companion to T Tau is clearly revealed, and is seen to be undergoing an energetic outburst.
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U2 - 10.1117/12.152679
DO - 10.1117/12.152679
M3 - Conference article
AN - SCOPUS:85075939948
SN - 0277-786X
VL - 1920
SP - 338
EP - 347
JO - Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
JF - Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
T2 - Active and Adaptive Optical Components and Systems II 1993
Y2 - 1 February 1993 through 4 February 1993
ER -