Shot Through The Heart: Telescope Fires Laser at Milky Way

[Judi Lynn]

Shot Through The Heart: Telescope Fires Laser at Milky Way
By SPACE.com Staff
posted: 15 September 2010
07:35 pm ET

A stunning new photo shows a telescope in Chile blasting a bright orange laser into the sky to create a virtual star in the heart of the Milky Way.

The picture, taken in mid-August, depicts more than just a spectacular laser light show. Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory were using the beam to create a reference point for the VLT's adaptive optics system, which uses adjustable mirrors to compensate for the blurring of Earth's atmosphere.

http://www.space.com.nyud.net:8090/images/telescope-laser-milky-way-100915-03.jpg

Generating an artificial star 56 miles (90 km) high helps the telescope calculate how much of an adjustment to apply. The method has been in use since 2002.

The laser is precisely tuned to energize a layer of sodium atoms found in one of the upper layers of the atmosphere. This sodium is thought to be a remnant of countless streaking meteorites. When hit by the laser's light, the sodium atoms start glowing, forming a virtual star the VLT can use as a reference.

More:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/telescope-laser-blasts-milky-way-100915.html

http://www.dailygalaxy.com.nyud.net:8090/photos/uncategorized/2007/08/12/eso_la_silla_observatory.jpg

La Silla Paranal Chile observatory
Atacama Desert

http://www.sathyasai.org.nyud.net:8090/imagecountries/chile/13.-Paranal-Observatory.jpg

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov.nyud.net:8090/apod/image/0701/mwsetparanal_guisard.gif

[atomic-fly]

1. Meanwhile in another Solar System...

there's a pilot struggling to land a jet! "My eyes!"

[WhiteTara]

3. lol n/t

[WhiteTara]

2. thanks Judi Lynn

what great photos! I love the one with the full moon over the observatory.

[exboyfil]

4. Someone should read "Forge of God"

before doing something like this. On that note, two interesting books which I recently read are "The Eerie Silence" and "The Inverted Bowl". After reading these books, my Carl Sagan optimism about a galatic network of civilizations has been cooled. We may be the first and we may be the only technological civilization to develop in our galaxy.

Still I don't want to call too much attention to ourselves until we actually know what is going on out there. Some galatic George Bush may be thinking it is time to throttle us in the cradle before we become a threat to everyone else.

Of course laser light may be less of an issue than sending high energy radio signals.

[Orsino]

5. Nice going, VLT.

Now They know we have lasers.

[charlie]

6. ...drawing hordes of unhinged intergalactic kitties to earth n/t