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all 17 comments

[–]haej 3 points4 points ago

What type of camera are you using to be able to capture the skynight like that?

[–]DominicDom 2 points3 points ago

Photo Description

In mid-August 2010 ESO Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky snapped this photo at ESO’s Paranal Observatory, Chile. A group of astronomers were observing the centre of the Milky Way using the laser guide star facility at Yepun, one of the four Unit Telescopes of the Very Large Telescope (VLT).

Yepun’s laser beam crosses the southern sky and creates an artificial star at an altitude of 90 km high in the Earth's mesosphere. The Laser Guide Star (LGS) is part of the VLT’s adaptive optics system and is used as a reference to correct the blurring effect of the atmosphere on images. The colour of the laser is precisely tuned to energise a layer of sodium atoms found in one of the upper layers of the atmosphere — one can recognise the familiar colour of sodium street lamps in the colour of the laser. This layer of sodium atoms is thought to be a leftover from meteorites entering the Earth’s atmosphere. When excited by the light from the laser, the atoms start glowing, forming a small bright spot that can be used as an artificial reference star for the adaptive optics. Using this technique, astronomers can >obtain sharper observations. For example, when looking towards the centre of our Milky Way, researchers can better monitor the galactic core, where a central supermassive black hole, surrounded by closely orbiting stars, is swallowing gas and dust. Taken with a wide angle lens, this photo covers about 180° of the sky.

Some other info

500px

[–]haej 0 points1 point ago

thanks for the info, that is amazing

[–]dentedcan 0 points1 point ago

TIL: We can do some really cool things. Thanks for the details.

[–]rumgeo 0 points1 point ago

I was thinking the same thing. iso? shutter speed? aperture?

[–]dentedcan 2 points3 points ago

Holy intergalactic trolling! You know that beam is hitting some planet we haven't discovered yet, and the inhabitants are thinking, "what the fuck?"

[–]lifelesslies 1 point2 points ago

nah man. that will be a holy place. and by chance it'll hit a cult leader and prove his divinity

[–]DiscWorld4me 1 point2 points ago

I hope it hits a planet full of cats.

[–]Sophrosynic 0 points1 point ago

Chances are overwhelmingly against that. The beam will probably hit nothing.

[–]dentedcan 1 point2 points ago

Let me have this one hope. We could be 'those guys' and Earth could be the unenlightened ghetto of the universe. Maybe that's why aliens don't visit - just pass through like we're Compton. Lock the doors, kids.

[–]niczar 0 points1 point ago

Its frequency is tuned to specifically hit some molecule (might be ozone, don't remember) in the high atmosphere to generate a fake star for calibration. So most of the energy is going to be lost anyway. And then, it's not going to stay concentrated enough over light years, so it's not going to hit anything.

[–]Crian105 0 points1 point ago

Wouldn't the beam spread out in all directions (and not be visible) by then?

[–]Awesome_at_photoshop 2 points3 points ago

[–][deleted] ago

[deleted]

[–]HEFK 0 points1 point ago

Yup

[–]2pt5RS 0 points1 point ago

The last time someone did that, this guy appeared:

[–]the8thdwarf 0 points1 point ago

Pew! Pew! Pew!

[–]chemistry_teacher 0 points1 point ago

Even if the laser remained undispersed and collimated, by the time it arrived at the spot it appears to be aimed at, the center of our galaxy would have had 27.2 ± 1.1 thousand years to have moved away from that location. Since the Milky Way is moving (against the reference frame of cosmic radiation) at 552 ± 6 km/s, then the Milky Way would have moved 50.1 light-years (294 trillion miles) in that time (using Wolfram Alpha, rounding to three sig figs, and not accounting for the errors in measurement).