With all that amazing gear (which I don’t know how it works) that $7k ZWO looks out of place And I just noticed the filter wheel, I’d love to see some images!
Impossible..! Witchcraft..! Seriously though, ok I get how using transducers to flex the mirror could work to cancel atmospheric aberrations, but how does it know what the atmosphere is doing in order to compensate? Or else is there a lot of fancy processing so it can tell fixable bluriness apart from bluriness it can't do anything about...? Anyway, amazing system there guys. Nice work...!
@@mrbaab5932 Hmm. I guess most if not all atmospheric distortion is correctable in theory but doesn't that require some detailed knowledge, from one moment to the next, of precisely how the cone of air you're looking through is wobbling about? Clearly I'm no physicist, but an engineer. I don't know anything about optics and the more I read the less I understand. Nevertheless, am I right in thinking that the magic box works a) mechanically? And b) by squeezing, bending or otherwise introducing small, localised distortions in order to compensate for lensing effects introduced by the atmosphere? Finally, c) on the processing side, does it effectively look at isolated sections of the image and make a guess as to how to sharpen it or maybe d) try to sharpen it or e) just leave it alone if it's not confident of improving anything? Make sense...? Maybe someone can point me at something to read by way of a broad overview. Now that I think about it, I bet all the best data and expertise on this problem lies not with the astronomy folks, but with the the spying folks at the NRO...
@@RickySwan IF I am not mistaken, This type of optical correction "only" corrects (very quickly) the position of the guidestar so that it lands well on the imaging sensor, much like some DSLR-lenses have a stabilisor in them (or DSLR sensors can be shifted). So no mirror-shaping is done. Of course the effect is better when you have long focal lengths.
To detect atmospheric blurring the system observes a guide star. It knows the guide star should appear as a point of light so it determines how the image has been distorted by the atmosphere and corrects for it. Adaptive optics on professional telescopes create an artificial star to detect atmospheric distortion. They use lasers to excite atoms high in the atmosphere creating an artificial star which the adaptive optics system analyzes to determine how to correct for the distortion. Professional telescopes using adaptive optics have a deformable mirror in the optical path that uses computer controlled actuators on the back of the mirror to adjust its shape up to 1000 times a second to correct for atmospheric distortion. I don't know if the system in this video also uses a deformable mirror or has some other way to correct the distortion.
Wow I didn't realize adaptive optics were available for small (compared to professional) scopes. Of course this is a large scope for an amateur and of very high quality (I am familiar with PlaneWave and I know they produce high quality scopes). But I'll never be able to take advantage of an adaptive optics system. I can't afford a PlaneWave scope let alone the adaptive optics.
Congratulations! This is an amazing milestone for backyard astronomy! There's now an off-the-shelf version that equals university-level Optics!
Would like to have seen some final results. Not just the live bit at the end but the processed results of a deepsky object, maybe before and after?
Oh man, what a teaser. Please upload more video about the adaptive optics!
Beautiful work... Collaborations like are game-changers.
Looks awesome! Something to think about for the next phase of OGS funding :)
This AO unit is going to play a big role in OGS =)
I'll have to wait for the free version.
Absolute Masterpiece.......!
Thanks for watching Cory!
Awesome video!!
Fantastic! Thanks to engeeners
Will be adaptive optics for smaller telescopes, like RC500, 400? :)
With all that amazing gear (which I don’t know how it works) that $7k ZWO looks out of place
And I just noticed the filter wheel, I’d love to see some images!
Ok looks good, pack it up and ship it to me ^_^
does it come with a free colli cap? :))
wow, I want one. do you do financing? ; )
Cool.
Impossible..!
Witchcraft..!
Seriously though, ok I get how using transducers to flex the mirror could work to cancel atmospheric aberrations, but how does it know what the atmosphere is doing in order to compensate?
Or else is there a lot of fancy processing so it can tell fixable bluriness apart from bluriness it can't do anything about...?
Anyway, amazing system there guys. Nice work...!
Non fixable blurring? Like only diffraction blurring.
@@mrbaab5932 Hmm. I guess most if not all atmospheric distortion is correctable in theory but doesn't that require some detailed knowledge, from one moment to the next, of precisely how the cone of air you're looking through is wobbling about?
Clearly I'm no physicist, but an engineer.
I don't know anything about optics and the more I read the less I understand.
Nevertheless, am I right in thinking that the magic box works a) mechanically? And b) by squeezing, bending or otherwise introducing small, localised distortions in order to compensate for lensing effects introduced by the atmosphere?
Finally, c) on the processing side, does it effectively look at isolated sections of the image and make a guess as to how to sharpen it or maybe d) try to sharpen it or e) just leave it alone if it's not confident of improving anything?
Make sense...?
Maybe someone can point me at something to read by way of a broad overview.
Now that I think about it, I bet all the best data and expertise on this problem lies not with the astronomy folks, but with the the spying folks at the NRO...
@@RickySwan IF I am not mistaken, This type of optical correction "only" corrects (very quickly) the position of the guidestar so that it lands well on the imaging sensor, much like some DSLR-lenses have a stabilisor in them (or DSLR sensors can be shifted). So no mirror-shaping is done.
Of course the effect is better when you have long focal lengths.
To detect atmospheric blurring the system observes a guide star. It knows the guide star should appear as a point of light so it determines how the image has been distorted by the atmosphere and corrects for it. Adaptive optics on professional telescopes create an artificial star to detect atmospheric distortion. They use lasers to excite atoms high in the atmosphere creating an artificial star which the adaptive optics system analyzes to determine how to correct for the distortion. Professional telescopes using adaptive optics have a deformable mirror in the optical path that uses computer controlled actuators on the back of the mirror to adjust its shape up to 1000 times a second to correct for atmospheric distortion. I don't know if the system in this video also uses a deformable mirror or has some other way to correct the distortion.
How much does it cost?
Wow I didn't realize adaptive optics were available for small (compared to professional) scopes. Of course this is a large scope for an amateur and of very high quality (I am familiar with PlaneWave and I know they produce high quality scopes). But I'll never be able to take advantage of an adaptive optics system. I can't afford a PlaneWave scope let alone the adaptive optics.
This setup probably costs more then my house..
Can I have one?
I am surprised that the technicians who install the adaptive optics system do not wear a hat covering their hair: risk of contamination!
Thanks for watching! We installed the AO that day for testing only, so it wasn't the final installation site =)
Now with free bhatinov-mask, limited time only