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European Southern Observatory (ESO) astronomers have been able to create an "artificial star", 90 km high in the atmosphere, using a laser beam. This "star" can be put at any point in the sky, and it enables the adaptive optics of the VLT telescope to be used throughout the visible sky. Until now, adaptive optics required the light of a strong natural star as a reference - as of now, the artificial star will take this over. The new technology therefore enlarges the field of vision of the most powerful telescope on Earth, to hitherto inaccessible regions.
Video, 4 min 54 sec
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