High-Tech Stargazing: Astronomers Fire Lasers Into Deep Space to Get a Better View of Distant Stars

The effect created by lasers reportedly helps scientist calibrate telescopes to “correct for atmospheric blurring”.

Striving to learn more about a distant nebula, scientists on Earth have resorted to firing lasers into space in order to facilitate their research efforts, with the ensuing scene becoming one of the ESO’s Pictures of the Week.

According to Live Science, while a pair of giant stars known as Eta Carinae, located 7,500 light years away in the Carina Nebula, has become one of the most luminous star systems in the Milky Way due to “steadily exploding in a spectacular eruption of gas and dust for nearly 200 years”, observing them can be rather tricky, in no small part due to our planet’s atmosphere “blurring and distorting the view of celestial objects”.

​In order to deal with this snag, scientists fire lasers using one of the Very Large Telescope’s components, in order to simulate “distant stars”.

Using these simulations for practice, the researchers can then better calibrate telescopes to “correct for atmospheric blurring” when going after the real deal, the media outlet surmises.

Sourse: sputniknews.com