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Altair
ALTitude-conjugate Adaptive optics for the InfraRed

Altair is the adaptive optics system for the northern Gemini 8-m telescope. Altair corrects atmospheric turbulence to take the twinkle out of star light, producing sharper images, allowing astronomers to see tinier, fainter and more crowded objects than ever before. Altair began full science operations in the first semester of 2004.

A unique feature of Altair’s design is that the atmospheric layer 6.5 km above the telescope is imaged onto its deformable mirror (DM), rather than the ground layer imaged on the DM as in a conventional system. Based on measurements of atmospheric turbulence, taken in the 1990s, this feature had been expected to double the corrected field of view. However in practice, the gain has been minor. NRC-HIA is now studying means to refit the optics to allow conventional operation.

Project leader: Glen Herriot
Project scientist: Jean-Pierre Véran

Image Gallery

A collection of images of Altair

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