The first images of astronomical objects have been obtained with a telescope exploiting wavefront compensation with adaptive optics where the reference beacon was generated by laser excitation of mesospheric sodium. This was done using the FASTTRAC II low-order adaptive optics system at the multiple mirror telescope (MMT). FASTTRAC II is a prototype for a full-scale adaptive optics system under construction for the 6.5 m telescope that will replace the MMT in late 1997. The 6.5 m system is designed to provide correction to the diffraction limit of resolution in the near infrared (1 - 5 micrometer) with high Strehl ratio and excellent sky coverage. This paper describes the new system and its expected performance in view of the achieved performance of FASTTRAC II.

Date Published: 21 March 1997
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 2871, Optical Telescopes of Today and Tomorrow, (21 March 1997); doi: 10.1117/12.269123

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2871:
Optical Telescopes of Today and Tomorrow
Arne L. Ardeberg, Editor(s)