ALPAO and CHARA signed a contract for the development of an adaptive optics upgrade for the largest optical interferometer array in the world.
Georgia State University’s Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) and the French company ALPAO have signed a contract for the development of an adaptive optics upgrade for the CHARA Array, the largest optical interferometer array in the world.
Georgia State and ALPAO will develop new deformable mirrors and improve the sensitivity of the interferometric telescopes on Mount Wilson, Calif. ALPAO will develop and manufacture six deformable mirrors, each composed of 69 actuators to deform a plane mirror membrane. These deformable mirrors represent state-of-the-art instrumentation to correctfor the effect of atmospheric turbulence. The goal of this technique, known asadaptive optics, is to observe stars andtheir surroundings as clearly as they would appear in space.