A Laser Strike at the Galactic Center
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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Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
