Posted Sep 04, 2007 at 11:05AM by Tim Y. Listed in: Science Tags: Hubble Telescope, Cambridge University
Ó

Cat's Eye Nebula - Image 1 


A new optical system is now giving an audience on earth a view of the great beyond far sharper than even space-based telescopes can offer. Named "Lucky," the new camera system was developed thanks to a collaborative effort between between Cambridge University (UK), and the California Institute of Technology (US).

The Lucky camera uses two methods to achieve its phenomenal clarity. The first is by means of a sensitive light-detection system. At the heart of this is a chip with very little electrical noise, which allows the Lucky camera to see images in greater detail.

The second part of the system is software that allows the camera to work around the leading cause of clarity loss - atmospheric distortions. As Dr. Craig Mackay of Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy explained, atmospheric distortions are very much like heat waves on the horizon. Lucky's software allowed the camera a workaround for this problem.

The object is distorted by the haze most of the time. But every now and again there are moments when the haze drops and you can see it very clearly.


Working together, these two systems generated images reportedly double that of the Hubble telescope. A fascinating feat, considering that Hubble isn't hindered by an atmosphere. As with regards to Lucky's limits, Dr. Mackay further said,

The images space telescopes produce are of extremely high quality but they are limited to the size of the telescope. Our techniques can do very well when the telescope is bigger than Hubble and has intrinsically better resolution.


There are currently two published images for the Lucky Camera: One of the Globular cluster M13, and of the Cat's Eye Nebula. The image we posted at the top is of the Cat's Eye Nebula; the image on the right was taken with a Palomar 200-inch camera, while the image on the left was taken with the Lucky camera.


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3 Comments


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   by G.C (Unregistered) - 2007-09-04
 » Ooh

Nice, Can We Put One In Space? :D

   by Advertising -
   by John E. Quick III (Unregistered) - 2007-09-04
 » You may want to edit this... o,O;

You may want to change the caption for the above picture to The Cat's Eye Nebula as imaged conventionally by the Palomar 200in telescope (l) and with the Lucky Camera (r).

You have the descriptions for the images reversed. I was kind of confused there for a sec, when it said the Palomar was that much better than the Lucky. lol

Just thought I'd drop that one on ya.

   by Ballpeen (Unregistered) - 2007-09-05
 » confused

is the Palomar camera on the Hubble or a diff space-based camera?

I assume as John E says, that your description is reversed.



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