One of the reasons for adaptive optics is that the atmospherics are changing all the time. But, with a normal CCD image you are building up an image - of a star for instance - on a specific pixel (or pixels) over time. So you lose the aspect of what happened at a SPECIFIC time. Perhaps there might be something that could be done if you were to use a CCD in TDI mode (i.e. drift scanning) like the Sloan Digital Sky survey. I'm not sure, but perhaps that might provide a way to store the diffraction info/atmospherics info separately. Of course, TDI also limits the exposure time. It would certainly be fun to have a budget to try. <g>

-----Original Message----- From: Chuck Hards [mailto:chuckhards@yahoo.com] Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 4:16 PM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Adaptive Optics for amateurs

I wonder if software alone, or perhaps software combined with a seeing monitor/recorder, could work as well as a deformable optical surface driven by a seeing monitor? Re-construct a diffraction-limited image from the data later...is this an old idea, or a dead end? I'm envisioning a green laser pointer, or relatively inexpensive component laser module, monitor telescope with CCD, all riding on the main instrument with the imaging CCD...might need a collimator on the laser also. I'm thinking that by not doing it in real-time you can reduce the computing demands on the hardware. Enough to make a difference? Incorrect assumption?

What does the FAA say about lasers shooting into the sky?

Brent, Rich, and any other computer experts on the list?

C.

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