0
List at least three ways in which Earth's atmosphere can hinder astronomical observations And explain why putting a telescope into space helps in each case What problem can adaptive optics help with?
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
The Earth's atmosphere carries with it pollutants and water vapor that tend to attenuate incoming light from space and reflect light back to Earth emanating from ground sources. The atmosphere can act as an unrefined lens that can distort images due to its inhomogeneous density. Interference between light and various gasses in the atmosphere may act to distort the wavelength of incoming starlight. To put a telescope into space allows one to eliminate these difficulties by removing the atmosphere from the observations. I do not know of adaptive optics specifically but I would take it that adaptive optics would allow for refinement and correction for atmospheric interferences when observations are made on Earth by mathematical methods.
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
Add your answer:
Earn +20 pts
Why were adaptive optics developed?
to eliminate the distorting effects of atmospheric turbulence for telescopes on the ground
Which technology can allow a single ground-based telescope to achieve images as sharp as those from the Hubble Space Telescope?
adaptive optics
What is the name of the process used by the telescopes on earth that allowed them to overcome the effect of the atmosphere blurring caused by the earths atmosphere?
Adaptive Optics/AO.
Are there any disadvantages of using telescopes in space?
First, they have a major advantage, and that is that they have a much clearer image, due to the lack of atmosphere.The disadvantages are mainly related to the high cost of putting the telescope up into space, and maintaining it (you can't just walk over to repair something). For this reason, other alternatives are also used, or considered, such as telescopes on Earth that compensate the atmosphere with a larger size, or advanced adaptive optics, or even telescopes carried on airplanes at a high altitude!
How does adaptive optics in a telescope help solve problems cased by atmospheric turbulence?
The atmosphere is a chaotic mixture of gases and vapours. The turbulences in the atmosphere distort the paths of light-rays falling on the Earth from distant celestial objects, thereby distorting the images they form in telescopes.To compensate, the more advanced modern telescopes use lasers to measure the current distortion in the atmosphere directly in the path of the telescope, and use those measurements to change the shape of the mirror in the telescope from millisecond to millisecond, thereby cancelling much of those distortions.
What telescope must be mounted on high-flying aircraft or a satellite to be useful in studying the stars?
A large aperture telescope that does not have adaptive optics which can compensate for unevenness in the atmosphere.
What telescope must be mounted on high flying aircraft or a satellite to be useful in studying stars?
A large aperture telescope that does not have adaptive optics which can compensate for unevenness in the atmosphere.
What are the primary telescope mirrors that are continuously adjusted to compensate for the distortion of starlight due to the motion of Earth's atmosphere?
Adaptive Optics
What has the author Robert K Tyson written?
Robert K. Tyson has written: 'Principles of adaptive optics' -- subject(s): Adaptive Optics, Optics, Adaptive 'Astronomical adaptive optics systems and applications III' -- subject(s): Congresses, Adaptive Optics, Astronomical instruments, Imaging systems in astronomy, Design and construction 'Lighter side of adaptive optics' -- subject(s): Adaptive Optics, Humor, Imaging systems in astronomy, Optics, Adaptive
Why were adaptive optics developed?
to eliminate the distorting effects of atmospheric turbulence for telescopes on the ground
Which technology can allow a single ground-based telescope to achieve images as sharp as those from the Hubble Space Telescope?
adaptive optics
How adaptive optics in a telescope help solve problems caused by atmospheric turbulence?
The atmosphere is a chaotic mixture of gases and vapours. The turbulences in the atmosphere distort the paths of light-rays falling on the Earth from distant celestial objects, thereby distorting the images they form in telescopes.To compensate, the more advanced modern telescopes use lasers to measure the current distortion in the atmosphere directly in the path of the telescope, and use those measurements to change the shape of the mirror in the telescope from millisecond to millisecond, thereby cancelling much of those distortions.
How does adaptive optics in telescopes help solve problems caused by atmospheric turbulence?
The atmosphere is a chaotic mixture of gases and vapours. The turbulences in the atmosphere distort the paths of light-rays falling on the Earth from distant celestial objects, thereby distorting the images they form in telescopes.To compensate, the more advanced modern telescopes use lasers to measure the current distortion in the atmosphere directly in the path of the telescope, and use those measurements to change the shape of the mirror in the telescope from millisecond to millisecond, thereby cancelling much of those distortions.
What is the name of the process used by the telescopes on earth that allowed them to overcome the effect of the atmosphere blurring caused by the earths atmosphere?
Adaptive Optics/AO.
Are there any disadvantages of using telescopes in space?
First, they have a major advantage, and that is that they have a much clearer image, due to the lack of atmosphere.The disadvantages are mainly related to the high cost of putting the telescope up into space, and maintaining it (you can't just walk over to repair something). For this reason, other alternatives are also used, or considered, such as telescopes on Earth that compensate the atmosphere with a larger size, or advanced adaptive optics, or even telescopes carried on airplanes at a high altitude!
What does stars twinkling have to do with the hubble telescope?
Ground-based telescopes suffer from being under the Earth's atmosphere. Movement and different densities in the earth's atmosphere causes the light from distant stars to be randomly refracted, and this appears to ground-based observers as 'twinkling' of the stars. For telescopes, these effects cause images to be distorted and blurred, and prevent the telescope's optics from operating at their best, and from getting the best possible images of planet, nebulae and galaxies. Although it is possible to compensate for the effects of the atmosphere with adaptive optics (literally adjusting the shape of the mirror to correct for these effects), the best way to avoid the effects of the atmosphere is not to have it there at all. The Hubble telescope was put into orbit around the Earth so that it is permanently situated above the atmosphere, and its users never have to worry about it distorting their images - this has allowed astronomers to get the best images of, for example, the most distant galaxies ever produced.
Why stars are twinkiling?
Stars twinkle because of distortion due to the Earth's atmosphere. Just as distant objects seem to shimmer in the heat of the desert, the atmosphere bends the path of light from the stars on a second-by-second basis. The effect of this, to the human eye, is a twinkling appearance. In a telescope, this distortion causes blurring of a star's image and slight shifts in its position. It is because of this distortion that telescopes are put into space (high above the atmosphere). Techniques in adaptive optics are proving effective at compensating for this distortion to the aid of ground-based telescopes.
