Laser Guide Star Based Astrophysics at Lick Observatory

The resolution of ground-based telescopes is typically limited to ∼1 second of arc because of the blurring effects of atmospheric turbulence. Adaptive optics (AO) technology senses and corrects for the optical distortions due to turbulence hundreds of times per second using high-speed sensors, computers, deformable mirror, and laser technology. The goal of this project is to make AO systems widely useful astronomical tools providing resolutions up to an order of magnitude better than current, ground-based telescopes. Astronomers at the University of California Lick Observatory at Mt. Hamilton now routinely use the LLNL developed AO system for high resolution imaging of astrophysical objects. We report here on the instrument development progress and on the science observations made with this system during this 3-year ERI project