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Lucky imaging
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==Lucky imaging and adaptive optics hybrid systems== In 2007 astronomers at [[Caltech]] and the [[University of Cambridge]] announced the first results from a new hybrid lucky imaging and [[adaptive optics]] (AO) system. The new camera gave the first diffraction-limited resolutions on 5 m-class telescopes in visible light. The research was performed on the Mt. Palomar [[Hale Telescope]] of 200-inch-diameter aperture. The telescope, with lucky cam and adaptive optics, pushed it near its theoretical angular resolution, achieving up to 0.025 arc seconds for certain types of viewing.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Richard Tresch |last=Fienberg |url=http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/sharpening-the-200-inch |title=Sharpening the 200 Inch |journal=Sky and Telescope |date=14 September 2007}}</ref> Compared to space telescopes like the 2.4 m Hubble, the system still has some drawbacks including a narrow [[field of view]] for crisp images (typically 10" to 20"), [[airglow]], and electromagnetic frequencies [[Extinction (astronomy)|blocked by the atmosphere]]. When combined with an AO system, lucky imaging selects the periods when the turbulence the adaptive optics system must correct is reduced. In these periods, lasting a small fraction of a second, the correction given by the AO system is sufficient to give excellent resolution with visible light. The lucky imaging system averages the images taken during the excellent periods to produce a final image with much higher resolution than is possible with a conventional long-exposure AO camera. This technique is applicable to getting very high resolution images of only relatively small astronomical objects, up to 10 arcseconds in diameter, as it is limited by the precision of the atmospheric turbulence correction. It also requires a relatively bright 14th-magnitude star in the field of view on which to guide. Being above the atmosphere, the [[Hubble Space Telescope]] is not limited by these concerns and so is capable of much wider-field high-resolution imaging.
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