Happy #MayThe4th ! Here's a photo I took at @esoastronomy 's Paranal Observatory in #Chile, with one of our 8-m telescopes aiming its four lasers at the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy orbiting the Milky Way.

The lasers excite sodium atoms high up in the atmosphere, creating artificial "stars" whose twinkle we can measure in real time to correct atmospheric turbulence and get super sharp images.

This is how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_QC2cLroDc

#StarWars #StarWarsDay #astronomy #space

Happy #MayThe4th ! Here's a photo I took at @esoastronomy 's Paranal Observatory in #Chile, with one of our 8-m telescopes aiming its four lasers at the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy orbiting the Milky Way.

The lasers excite sodium atoms high up in the atmosphere, creating artificial "stars" whose twinkle we can measure in real time to correct atmospheric turbulence and get super sharp images.

This is how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_QC2cLroDc

#StarWars #StarWarsDay #astronomy #space