ESOcast 34: How To Stop a Star's Twinkle

We have all looked up at the sky at night and seen the stars twinkle. It may be pretty and romantic, but it is also a big problem for astronomers, as the shimmering starlight blurs observations.

In this ESOcast we visit the Allgäu public observatory amid the picturesque landscape of southern Germany. Here, as night falls, a team of scientists and engineers prepares to field test a laser guide star unit, which will soon be on its way to ESO’s Paranal Observatory. This cutting edge technology can help astronomers cancel out the effects of the turbulence in the atmosphere and obtain much sharper views of the Universe.

Credit

ESO.
Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser and Luis Calçada.
Editing: Herbert Zodet.
Web and technical support: Lars Holm Nielsen and Raquel Yumi Shida.
Written by: Oli Usher and Herbert Zodet.
Narration: Dr. J and Gaitee Hussain.
Music: John Dyson (from the album Moonwind) and movetwo.
Footage and photos: ESO, Stéphane Guisard, Martin Kornmesser, Christoph Malin (christophmalin.com) and José Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org).
Directed by: Herbert Zodet.
Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen.

Other episodes of ESOcast are available on: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/archive/category/esocast/

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Courtesy of European Southern Observatory

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