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Credit: Yuri Beletsky
(ESO)
Explanation:
Why are these people shooting a powerful laser into the center of our Galaxy?
Fortunately, this is not meant to be the first step in a
Galactic
war.
Rather, astronomers at the
Very Large Telescope (VLT) site in
Chile
are trying to measure the distortions of
Earth's ever changing atmosphere.
Constant imaging of high-altitude atoms excited by the laser -- which appear like
an
artificial star -- allow astronomers to instantly
measure atmospheric
blurring.
This information is fed back to a VLT telescope mirror which is then
slightly deformed to minimize this blurring.
In this case, a VLT was observing
our Galaxy's center,
and so Earth's atmospheric blurring in that direction was needed.
As for inter-galaxy warfare,
when viewed from
our Galaxy's center,
no casualties are expected.
In fact, the light from this
powerful laser would combine with light from our Sun to together appear
only as bright
as a faint and distant star.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Galactic Center - laser - adaptive optics
Publications with words: Galactic Center - laser - adaptive optics
See also: