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Adaptive Optics (AO) system of the upcoming Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT)
Context: A new online tool to create a comprehensive star catalogue for the Adaptive Optics (AO) system of the upcoming Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) has been created to enable this ground-based telescope-one of the largest to be operational in the next decade, generate sharper astronomical images.
Comprehensive star catalogue
- The TMT’s Narrow Field Infrared Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS), enhanced by a Laser Guide Star (LGS) facility will project up to nine lasers into the sky to create artificial guide stars.
- However, atmospheric turbulence affects these laser beams, hence it requires feedback from three Natural Guide Stars (NGS) within its field of view.
- Currently, no comprehensive catalogue for such NGS exists. Researchers have developed an automated code for creating an all-sky NIR star catalogue essential for TMT’s optimal performance in the next decade.
About Thirty metre telescope:
- It is being installed at Mauna Kea in Hawaii by a non-profit international partnership involving the USA, Japan, India (Department of Science and Technology), and Canada.
- It is a ground based telescope :It involves large telescopes located on Earth’s surface employing sophisticated optics to capture and analyse celestial objects.
- Unlike space based telescopes, they are cost effective and easier to maintain.
About Adaptive Optics
- Adaptive optics (AO), broadly speaking, is a kind of technology that corrects for imperfections in a wave of light.
- It detects distortions in the incoming wavefront with some kind of wavefront sensor, computes the needed correction with a control system, and then corrects for those distortions, usually with a deformable mirror (like being used in TMT).
- The deformable mirror is an integration of greater than 500 smaller mirrors and is controlled by computers to correct the distortion caused by turbulence of Earth’s atmosphere in real-time.
- Telescopes on Earth, such as the TMT, face atmospheric distortion, impacting image quality. To mitigate this, the TMT uses an Adaptive Optics System (AOS) that continuously adjusts for atmospheric changes.
- A comprehensive all-sky catalogue of NIR stars is essential for this system.
