Benoit Neichel and Rodrigo Carrasco
Figure 1.
The Gemini South GeMS
laser propagates into
the night sky during
GeMS/GSAOI System
Verification observations.
Gemini South’s Revolutionary
New Adaptive Optics System
Embarks on the Universe
The first half of 2013 has been a busy one for the GeMS team, culminating
with the success of GeMS System Verification (SV). This article features many
of the stunning images obtained during the SV period by our users.
This last semester marked the beginning
of science operations with the Gemini
Multi-conjugate adaptive optics System
(GeMS) and the Gemini South Adaptive
Optics Imager (GSAOI). GeMS/GSAOI officially started its System Verification
(SV) period in December 2012 after 1
1/2 years of commissioning. Since then,
the system has delivered new and exciting science to Gemini’s user community.
GeMS is based on a new adaptive optics
(AO) concept, called Multi-Conjugate
Adaptive Optics (MCAO). The technology behind MCAO involves the use of
multiple laser guide stars (five in the
GeMS system) and several deformable
mirrors (three in all) to sample atmospheric distortions and cancel them out
in real-time as imaging data are collected.
Using algorithms similar to those developed for medical tomographic imaging, the GeMS/
MCAO system creates a three-dimensional snapshot of atmospheric turbulence between
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GeminiFocus
July2013