2000/10/06 by R. Davies, R. I. Davies, M. D. Lehnert +7
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing #Advanced optical system design #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0010129
2 page contribution to IAU symposium 205 (Aug 2000) on 'Galaxies and their Constituents at the Highest Angular Resolutions'
arxiv created 2000/10/06 · openalex publication_date 2000/10/06 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The major cornerstone of future ground-based astronomy is imaging and spectroscopy at the diffraction limit using adaptive optics. To exploit the potential of current AO systems, we have begun a survey around bright stars to study intermediate redshift galaxies at high resolution. Using ALFA to reach the diffraction limit of the 3.5-m telescope at Calar Alto allows us to study the structure of distant galaxies in the near-infrared at scales of 100-150 pc for z=0.05 and at scales 1.0-1.5 kpc at z=1. In this contribution we present the initial results of this project, which hint at the exciting prospects possible with the resolution and sensitivity available using an AO camera on the 8-m class VLT.