Related papers: Lucky Exposures: Diffraction limited astronomical …
By selecting short exposure images taken using a CCD with negligible readout noise we obtained essentially diffraction-limited 810 nm images of faint objects using nearby reference stars brighter than I=16 at a 2.56 m telescope. The FWHM of…
A quantitative assessment is presented of diffraction-limited stellar images with Strehl ratios of 0.25-0.30 obtained by selection of short-exposure CCD images of stars brighter than +6m at 810nm with the Nordic Optical Telescope.
Lucky Imaging is now an established observing procedure that delivers near diffraction-limited images in the visible on ground-based telescopes up to ~2.5 m in diameter. Combined with low order adaptive optics it can deliver resolution…
We use a Lucky Imaging system to obtain I-band images with much improved angular resolution on a ground-based 2.5m telescope. We present results from a 10-night assessment campaign on the 2.56m Nordic Optical Telescope and quantify the…
We describe the results from a new instrument which combines Lucky Imaging and Adaptive Optics to give the first routine direct diffraction-limited imaging in the visible on a 5m telescope. With fast image selection behind the Palomar AO…
Both lucky imaging techniques and adaptive optics require natural guide stars, limiting sky coverage, even when laser guide stars are used. Lucky imaging techniques become less successful on larger telescopes unless adaptive optics is used,…
We present an empirical analysis of the effectiveness of frame selection (also known as Lucky Imaging) techniques for high resolution imaging. A high-speed image recording system has been used to observe a number of bright stars. The…
Near-diffraction limited imaging and spectroscopy in the visible on large (8-10 meter) class telescopes has proved to be beyond the capabilities of current adaptive optics technologies, even when using laser guide stars. The need for high…
Lucky imaging is a technique for high resolution astronomical imaging at visible wavelengths, utilising medium sized ground based telescopes in the 2--4m class. The technique uses high speed, low noise cameras to record short exposures…
Lucky image (LI) is a technique to achieve near diffraction-limit high-angular resolution images for meter-class optical telescopes. In this work, by observing the core of globular cluster M15, we demonstrated the LI technique can be…
We obtained high-resolution, high-contrast optical imaging in the SDSS $i'$ band with the LuckyCam camera mounted on the 2.56m Nordic Optical Telescope, to search for faint stellar companions to 16 stars harbouring transiting exoplanets.…
The highest resolution images ever taken in the visible were obtained by combining Lucky Imaging and low order adaptive optics. This paper describes a new instrument to be deployed on the WHT 4.2m and GTC 10.4 m telescopes on La Palma, with…
It is widely believed that adaptive optics only has a role in correcting turbulent wavefronts on large telescopes using very bright reference stars. Unfortunately these are very scarce and many astronomical targets require wavefront…
In this work, we study the advantages of using a Lucky Imaging camera for the observations of potential planetary microlensing events. Our aim is to reduce the blending effect and enhance exoplanet signals in binary lensing systems composed…
This paper presents a new strategy for observing faint galaxies with high order natural guide star systems. We have imaged 5 high galactic latitude fields within the isoplanatic patch of bright stars (8.5 < R < 10.3 mag). The fields provide…
We provide a technique for resolving intermediate-separation binaries stars with medium-sized telescopes (i.e. diameter less than or equal to 2.5 m) at wavelengths around 825 nm in the super-resolution range (i.e. below the limit defined by…
AstraLux is the Lucky Imaging camera for the Calar Alto 2.2-m telescope and the 3.5-m NTT at La Silla. It allows nearly diffraction limited imaging in the SDSS i' and z' bands of objects as faint as i'=15.5mag with minimum technical effort.…
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…
We present high-resolution I-band imaging of the core of the globular cluster M15 obtained at the 2.5 m Nordic Optical Telescope with FastCam, a low readout noise L3CCD based instrument. Short exposure times (30 ms) were used to record…
We report the first use of Michelson interferometry on the Keck I telescope for diffraction-limited imaging in the near infrared JHK and L bands. By using an aperture mask located close to the f/25 secondary, the 10 m Keck primary mirror…