Mirrors captured the most accurate shots from space

Publish date 29 August 2013
Mirrors captured the most accurate shots from space image

A unique installation of mirrors that change their shape constantly, managed to capture the most accurate images of the night sky we have ever seen, writes the magazine "Objects", referring to "Mashable".

The achievement comes from a research team from the University of Arizona who created Magellan Advanced Optics or MaGAO - a specialized filter for a telescope that can reduce details to 0.2 arcseconds. This is the equivalent of being able to see a diamond the size of a baseball on the moon.

The improvement is the result of an additional mirror, which literally changes its shape and thus corrects the imperfect earth's atmosphere, which hinders better observation. It can do this practically in real time - the 585 points on the mirror can change position 1,000 times per second. This allows the clearest images ever captured, which are twice as detailed as images from the Hubble Space Telescope.

The mirror is placed on the main mirror of the telescope and then adjusts the incoming light to provide a clearer image. With the help of MagAO, astronomers have been able to look at two separate stars at 1,000 light-years away. No telescope has so far been able to distinguish the two stars.