Ground-layer turbulence evaluation at Subaru Telescope for next-generation adaptive optics development

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24654050
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Astronomy
• Research Institution: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
• Principal Investigator: OYA Shin 国立天文台, ハワイ観測所, RCUH職員 (80399287)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): TAKATO Naruhisa 国立天文台, ハワイ観測所, 准教授 (50261152)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 大気ゆらぎ / 補償光学 / 国際情報交換 / アメリカ：カナダ：オーストラリア

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The concentration of the ground-layer turbulence below 80m as observed at the summit ridge site of Mauna Kea, was also confirmed experimentally at the Subaru Telescope site using the turbulence profiler introduced by this research program. Moreover, the image size of less than 0.2 arcsecond in the H-band by ground-layer correction only, was successfully achieved by RAVEN, a demonstrator of multi-object adaptive optics at Subaru Telescope. Thus, the prediction of the performance simulation of a ground-layer adaptive optics was experimentally verified on actual star light through the telescope. As a result of this research, the feasibility of a ground-layer adaptive optics on the Subaru Telescope has been established. The turbulence evaluation work was also expanded to profiling at Pirika Telescope of Hokkaido University in Japan, and also to preparation of the dome seeing measurement at the Subaru Telescope. Activities of seeing evaluation will be continued based on this initial result.

Free Research Field

補償光学・赤外線天文学