NJIT Distinguished Professor Philip R. Goode and the Big Bear
Solar Observatory (BBSO) team have achieved "first light" using
a deformable mirror in what is called adaptive optics at Big
Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO). Using this equipment, an image of
a sunspot was published yesterday on the website of Ciel et
l'Espace, as the photo of the day. "This photo of a sunspot is
now the most detailed ever obtained in visible light," according
to Ciel et l'Espace. In September, the publication, a popular
astronomy magazine, will publish several more photos of the Sun
taken with BBSO's new adaptive optics system. Goode said that
the images were achieved with the 1.6 m clear aperture, off-axis
New Solar Telescope (NST) at BBSO. The telescope has a
resolution covering about 50 miles on the Sun's surface. The
telescope is the crown jewel of BBSO, the first facility-class
solar observatory built in more than a generation in the U.S.
The instrument is undergoing commissioning at BBSO. Since 1997,
under Goode's direction, N