Image: VLT's Next-generation Laser Launch Telescope
Description: This telescope is an important new component of the Four Laser Guide Star Facility, which will sharpen the already excellent vision of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). Four powerful 20-watt lasers, fired to an altitude of 90 kilometres up in the atmosphere, will help the VLT correct the image distortion caused by turbulence in the air. The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) is developing the launch telescopes through which the laser beams will be fired. The first of these laser launch telescopes — known as the Optical Tube Assembly — is seen here in the cleanroom at TNO’s Van Leeuwenhoek Laboratory in Delft, the Netherlands, having recently held its Acceptance Review. A special anti-reflective coating gives the lens on the telescope a distinctive blue hue. The photograph was taken by Fred Kamphues, who appears on the left. He is project manager for the Optical Tube Assembly, and is also a new ESO Photo Ambassador. On the right is system engineer Rens Henselmans.
Title: VLT's Next-generation Laser Launch Telescope
Credit: http://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1149a/
Author: ESO/TNO/Fred Kamphues
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
License: CC BY 3.0
License Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Attribution Required?: Yes
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