Revolutionary Optic System Heralds New Age in Astronomy, Scientists Report

Gemini Observatory's revolutionary new adaptive optics system heralds in a new age of astronomy, according to scientists.

"What we have seen so far signals an incredible capability that leaps ahead of anything in space or on the ground - and it will for some time," Robert Blum, Deputy Director of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, said in a press release. Blum is currently using GeMS to study the environments in and around star clusters.

Unlike previous AO systems, GeMS uses a technique called "multi-conjugate adaptive optics," which not only covers between 10 and 20 times more area of the sky in a single shot, but also forms razor-sharp images uniformly across the entire field. In doing so, it makes Gemini's 8-meter mirror 10- to 20-times more efficient, according to scientists, and gives astronomers the option to either expose deeper, or explore the universe more effectively with a wider range of filters capable of picking out more details than ever before.

"Each image tells a story about the scientific potential of GeMS," says Benoit Neichel who led the GeMS commissioning effort in Chile.

In fact, the first data coming from GeMS are already making an impact among astronomers across the international Gemini partnership, according to Tim Davidge, an astronomer at Canada's Dominion Astrophysical Observatory who studies populations of stars within galaxies beyond the Milky Way.

"GeMS sets the new cool in adaptive optics," Davidge said. "It opens up all sorts of exciting science possibilities for Gemini, while also demonstrating technology that is essential for the next generation of ground-based mega-telescopes. With GeMS we are entering a radically new, and awesome, era for ground-based optical astronomy."

Stuart Ryder of the Australian Astronomical Observatory says he conducts work that requires crisp images of distant galaxies in order to discover supernovae.

"I was fortunate enough to witness GeMS/GSAOI in action, and I was awestruck by the sight of the yellow-orange laser beam piercing the clear, moonlit night," he said. "When one considers all the factors that have to work together, from clear skies, to a steady stream of meteors burning up in the upper atmosphere sprinkling enough sodium atoms to be excited by the laser - it's wonderful to see it all come together."

In achieving this precise image, the GeMS system uses a constellation of five laser-guided stars and multiple deformable mirrors to remove atmospheric distortions to starlight in way that's never been done before. The solid-state sodium laser was developed through a significant amount of funding through the U.S. National Science Foundation and from the entire Gemini partnership.