A schematic of how an adaptive optics systems, like Altair on
Gemini North, works to correct distorted starlight. The
illustration (1) is an example of a blurry image taken without
the help of adaptive optics. When starlight is collected and
focused by the telescope, just prior to coming to a focus, the
light entering an adaptive optics system is first collimated (2)
and is reflected off a deformable mirror (3). After reflecting
off the deformable mirror, the light passes through a beam-
splitter (4) where the shorter wavelength light (optical) enters
the wavefront sensor (5) which takes a "snapshot" of the
distortions on the wavefront and sends the information via a
computer (6) to the deformable mirror to keep the wavefronts
corrected and flat. Finally, the light is focused (7) and imaged
on a detector (8) for astronomers to study. Return to the AO
background information.