May 23, 2012
Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU)
A research team from the Kavli IPMU/University of Tokyo, Ehime University, and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) has succeeded in conducting the first, full-scale scientific observationswith an adaptive optics (AO) system at optical wavelengths. The team connected the Kyoto Tridimensional Spectrograph II (Kyoto3DII, Figure 1, Note 1) with the Subaru Telescope's Adaptive Optics system (AO 188, Note 2) and improved the spatial resolution of images by a factor of 2.5 over images taken without AO. Observations using Kyoto3DII coupled with AO 188 are likely to reveal the detailed structures and the formation processes of galaxies.
Full Story: Subaru Telescope/National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ)