Adaptive Optics for Astronomy

Abstract

Adaptive Optics is a prime example of how progress in observational astronomy can be driven by technological developments. At many observatories it is now considered to be part of a standard instrumentation suite, enabling ground-based telescopes to reach the diffraction limit and thus providing spatial resolution superior to that achievable from space with current or planned satellites. In this review we consider adaptive optics from the astrophysical perspective. We show that adaptive optics has led to important advances in our understanding of a multitude of astrophysical processes, and describe how the requirements from science applications are now driving the development of the next generation of novel adaptive optics techniques.

arXiv commentto appear in ARA&A vol 50, 2012

References in corpus (136)

• The Dust Content and Opacity of Actively Star-Forming Galaxies
• A Relationship Between Nuclear Black Hole Mass and Galaxy Velocity Dispersion
• Detailed Decomposition of Galaxy Images. II. Beyond Axisymmetric Models
• Direct Imaging of Multiple Planets Orbiting the Star HR 8799
• Monitoring stellar orbits around the Massive Black Hole in the Galactic Center
• On the Black Hole Mass - Bulge Mass Relation
• Measuring Distance and Properties of the Milky Way's Central Supermassive Black Hole with Stellar Orbits
• The M-sigma and M-L Relations in Galactic Bulges and Determinations of their Intrinsic Scatter
• Evolutionary models for very-low-mass stars and brown dwarfs with dusty atmospheres
• The Galactic Center Massive Black Hole and Nuclear Star Cluster
• The SINS survey: SINFONI Integral Field Spectroscopy of z ~ 2 Star-forming Galaxies
• Angular Differential Imaging: a Powerful High-Contrast Imaging Technique
• A Universal Stellar Initial Mass Function? A Critical Look at Variations
• Images of a fourth planet orbiting HR 8799
• A giant planet imaged in the disk of the young star Beta Pictoris
• Supermassive Black Holes in Galactic Nuclei: Past, Present and Future Research
• The SINS survey of z~2 galaxy kinematics: properties of the giant star forming clumps
• From rings to bulges: evidence for rapid secular galaxy evolution at z~2 from integral field spectroscopy in the SINS survey
• A new algorithm for point spread function subtraction in high-contrast imaging: a demonstration with angular differential imaging
• The rapid formation a large rotating disk galaxy three billion years after the Big Bang
• The Black-Hole Mass in M87 from Gemini/NIFS Adaptive Optics Observations
• A Close Look at Star Formation around Active Galactic Nuclei
• Stellar, Brown Dwarf, and Multiple Star Properties from Hydrodynamical Simulations of Star Cluster Formation
• The bulk of the black hole growth since z~1 occurs in a secular universe: No major merger-AGN connection
• Analysis of isoplanatic high resolution stellar fields by Starfinder code
• An Extremely Top-Heavy IMF in the Galactic Center Stellar Disks
• LSD: Lyman-break galaxies Stellar populations and Dynamics. I: Mass, metallicity and gas at z~3.1
• A Disk of Young Stars at the Galactic Center as Determined by Individual Stellar Orbits
• The Kiloparsec-Scale Kinematics of High-Redshift Star-Forming Galaxies
• Reverberation Mapping Measurements of Black Hole Masses in Six Local Seyfert Galaxies
• Detection of Nine M8.0-L0.5 Binaries: The Very Low Mass Binary Population and its Implications for Brown Dwarf and VLM Star Formation
• The Gemini Deep Planet Survey -- GDPS
• LkCa 15: A Young Exoplanet Caught at Formation?
• The SINS survey: modeling the dynamics of z~2 galaxies and the high-z Tully-Fisher relation
• Outflows from AGN: Kinematics of the Narrow-Line and Coronal-Line Regions in Seyfert Galaxies
• A Combined Subaru/VLT/MMT 1--5 Micron Study of Planets Orbiting HR 8799: Implications for Atmospheric Properties, Masses, and Formation
• The star formation history of Seyfert 2 nuclei
• Bulge n and B/T in High Mass Galaxies: Constraints on the Origin of Bulges in Hierarchical Models
• Imaging Spectroscopy for Extrasolar Planet Detection
• Resolving the complex structure of the dust torus in the active nucleus of the Circinus galaxy
• The Role of Multiplicity in Disk Evolution and Planet Formation
• Limits of Adaptive Optics for high contrast imaging
• The cluster Terzan 5 as a remnant of a primordial building block of the Galactic bulge
• Supermassive black holes do not correlate with galaxy disks or pseudobulges
• Lucky Imaging: High Angular Resolution Imaging in the Visible from the Ground
• Improving Galactic Center Astrometry by Reducing the Effects of Geometric Distortion
• Giant Planet Companion to 2MASSW J1207334-393254
• The black hole mass -- stellar velocity dispersion correlation: bulges versus pseudobulges
• The Palomar/Keck Adaptive Optics Survey of Young Solar Analogs: Evidence for a Universal Companion Mass Function
• The Star-Forming Torus and Stellar Dynamical Black Hole Mass in the Seyfert 1 Nucleus of NGC3227
• Resolving the obscuring torus in NGC 1068 with the power of infrared interferometry: Revealing the inner funnel of dust
• A search for hot massive extrasolar planets around nearby young stars with the adaptive optics system NACO
• The Initial Mass Function of the Massive Star-forming Region NGC 3603 from Near-Infrared Adaptive Optics observations
• Mapping of the molecular gas inflow towards the Seyfert nucleus of NGC4051 using Gemini NIFS
• The formation and assembly of a typical star-forming galaxy at z~3
• The Role of Molecular Gas in Obscuring Seyfert Active Galactic Nuclei
• Fundamental Planes, and the "barless" M-sigma relation, for supermassive black holes
• Feeding versus Feedback in NGC4151 probed with Gemini NIFS. II. Kinematics
• High Precision Dynamical Masses of Very Low Mass Binaries
• Molecular gas streamers feeding and obscuring the active nucleus of NGC1068
• A near-IR variability study of the Galactic black hole: a red noise source with no detected periodicity
• The Structure of High Strehl Ratio Point-Spread Functions
• A companion candidate in the gap of the T Cha transitional disk
• A novel L-band imaging search for giant planets in the Tucana and Beta Pictoris moving groups
• Demographics of Bulge Types within 11 Mpc and Implications for Galaxy Evolution
• The mass ratio distribution of B-type visual binaries in the Sco OB2 association
• Stellar and Molecular Gas Kinematics of NGC1097: Inflow Driven by a Nuclear Spiral
• The Wide Brown Dwarf Binary Oph 1622-2405 and Discovery of A Wide, Low Mass Binary in Ophiuchus (Oph 1623-2402): A New Class of Young Evaporating Wide Binaries?
• The two states of Sgr A* in the near-infrared: bright episodic flares on top of low-level continuous variability
• Dynamics of Galactic Disks and Mergers at z~1.6: Spatially Resolved Spectroscopy with Keck Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics
• A low density of 0.8 g/cc for the Trojan binary asteroid 617 Patroclus
• Nuclear spirals as feeding channels to the Supermassive Black Hole: the case of the galaxy NGC 6951
• Mergers in Double-Peaked [O III] Active Galactic Nuclei
• Dynamical Masses of the Binary Brown Dwarf GJ 569Bab
• Multiple protostellar systems. II. A high resolution near-infrared imaging survey in nearby star-forming regions
• The Evolution of the Multiplicity of Embedded Protostars I: Sample Properties and Binary Detections
• Streaming Motions Towards the Supermassive Black Hole in NGC 1097
• The Role of Secular Evolution in the Black Hole Growth of Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies
• Triplicity and Physical Characteristics of Asteroid (216) Kleopatra
• On the Distribution of Orbital Eccentricities for Very Low-Mass Binaries
• High-Contrast Observations in Optical and Infrared Astronomy
• Probing the near infrared stellar population of Seyfert galaxies
• The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: High Resolution Kinematics of Luminous Star-Forming Galaxies
• The zCOSMOS-SINFONI Project I: Sample Selection and Natural-Seeing Observations
• Near Infrared Adaptive Optics Imaging of QSO Host Galaxies
• Evidence Against an Edge-On Disk Around the Extrasolar Planet 2MASS 1207 b and a New Thick Cloud Explanation for its Under-Luminosity
• The proper motion of the Arches cluster with Keck Laser-Guide Star Adaptive Optics
• Do black hole masses scale with classical bulge luminosities only? The case of the two composite pseudobulge galaxies NGC3368 and NGC3489
• AGN-Starburst connection in NGC7582: Gemini near-infrared spectrograph integral field unit observations
• Fast minimum variance wavefront reconstruction for extremely large telescopes
• Very high contrast IFU spectroscopy of AB Doradus C: 9 mag contrast at 0.2" without a coronagraph using spectral deconvolution
• Determination of masses of the central black holes in NGC524 and NGC2549 using Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics
• Compact molecular disc and ionized gas outflows within 350 pc of the active nucleus of Mrk 1066
• High Precision Astrometry with MICADO at the European Extremely Large Telescope
• What is limiting near-infrared astrometry in the Galactic Center?
• Getting Lucky with Adaptive Optics: Fast AO Image Selection in the Visible with a Large Telescope
• NGC6240: Merger-Induced Star Formation & Gas Dynamics
• On a new Near-Infrared method to estimate the absolute ages of star clusters: NGC3201 as a first test case
• Dust emission from a parsec-scale structure in the Seyfert 1 nucleus of NGC 4151
• Panchromatic observations and modeling of the HV Tau C edge-on disk
• NACO Polarimetric Differential Imaging of TW Hya: A Sharp Look at the Closest T Tauri Disk
• A multi-wavelength scattered light analysis of the dust grain population in the GG Tau circumbinary ring
• Gas dynamics of the central few parsec region of NGC 1068 fuelled by the evolving nuclear star cluster
• New Photometry and Spectra of AB Doradus C: An Accurate Mass Determination of a Young Low-Mass Object with Theoretical Evolutionary Tracks
• Gas Streaming Motions towards the Nucleus of M81
• Adaptive Optics Imaging of QSOs with Double-Peaked Narrow Lines: Are they Dual AGNs?
• The Core of NGC 6240 from Keck Adaptive Optics and HST NICMOS Observations
• 3-D deconvolution of hyper-spectral astronomical data
• Intermediate age stars as origin of the low velocity dispersion nuclear ring in Mrk1066
• The Presence of Weak Active Galactic Nuclei in High Redshift Star Forming Galaxies
• An Adaptive Optics Survey of M6.0-M7.5 Stars: Discovery of Three Very Low Mass Binary Systems Including Two Probable Hyades Members
• The Star Formation Histories of the Bulge and Disk of M31 from Gemini North+NIRI/Altair and HST/NICMOS
• Angular Momemtum of Binary Asteroids: Implication for their possible origin
• High Contrast Imaging and Wavefront Control with a PIAA Coronagraph: Laboratory System Validation
• Stellar Crowding and the Science Case for Extremely Large Telescopes
• The Orbit of GG Tau A
• A Keck LGS AO Search for Brown Dwarf and Planetary Mass Companions to Upper Scorpius Brown Dwarfs
• Mass of the Southern Black Hole in NGC 6240 from Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics
• Gemini imaging of QSO host galaxies at z~2
• VLT adaptive optics imaging of QSO host galaxies and close environment at z ~2.5: results from a pilot program
• The Anisoplanatic Point Spread Function in Adaptive Optics
• An E-ELT Case Study: Colour-Magnitude Diagrams of an Old Galaxy in the Virgo Cluster
• Resolving the nucleus of Centaurus A at mid-IR wavelengths
• Characterizing the Adaptive Optics Off-Axis Point-Spread Function - I: A Semi-Empirical Method for Use in Natural-Guide-Star Observations
• An investigation of lucky imaging techniques
• Accounting for anisoplanatic point spread function in deep wide-field adaptive optics images
• Circumnuclear Star Clusters in the Galaxy Merger NGC 6240, Observed with Keck Adaptive Optics and HST
• Deep ALTAIR + NIRI Imaging of the Disk and Bulge of M31
• On-sky wide field adaptive optics correction using multiple laser guide stars at the MMT
• The Asymptotic Giant Branch and the Tip of the Red Giant Branch as Probes of Star Formation History: The Nearby Dwarf Irregular Galaxy KKH 98
• Dust Grain Evolution in Spatially Resolved T Tauri Binaries
• Characterizing the Adaptive Optics Off-Axis Point-Spread Function. II. Methods for Use in Laser Guide Star Observations
• Spatially Resolved Stellar Populations of Eight GOODS-South AGN at z~1
• Adaptive Optics: Observations and Prospects for Studies of Active Galactic Nuclei
• Dissecting Galaxies with Adaptive Optics
• High Resolution Observations using Adaptive Optics: Achievements and Future Needs

Cited by in corpus (68)

• Coevolution (Or Not) of Supermassive Black Holes and Host Galaxies
• Nuclear Star Clusters
• Imaging Extrasolar Giant Planets
• The SINS/zC-SINF survey of z~2 galaxy kinematics: SINFONI adaptive optics-assisted data and kiloparsec-scale emission line properties
• PALM-3000: Exoplanet Adaptive Optics for the 5-meter Hale Telescope
• DYNAMO I: A Sample of Ha-Luminous Galaxies with Resolved Kinematics
• The Dawes Review 1: Kinematic studies of star-forming galaxies across cosmic time
• SPHERE / ZIMPOL high resolution polarimetric imager. I. System overview, PSF parameters, coronagraphy, and polarimetry
• Instrumentation for the detection and characterization of exoplanets
• High-efficiency Autonomous Laser Adaptive Optics
• An all-photonic focal-plane wavefront sensor
• Physics-based model of the adaptive-optics corrected point-spread-function
• Influence of Stellar Multiplicity On Planet Formation. IV. Adaptive Optics Imaging of Kepler Stars With Multiple Transiting Planet Candidates
• Adaptive Optics for Extremely Large Telescopes
• Improving Planet-Finding Spectrometers
• A treatment procedure for Gemini North/NIFS data cubes: application to NGC 4151
• Tracking moving objects through scattering media via speckle correlations
• Electrically reconfigurable phase-change transmissive metasurface
• Stochastic Optics: A Scattering Mitigation Framework for Radio Interferometric Imaging
• A treatment procedure for VLT/SINFONI data cubes: application to NGC 5643
• Ultra-deep GEMINI near-infrared observations of the bulge globular cluster NGC 6624
• A Demonstration of Wavefront Sensing and Mirror Phasing from the Image Domain
• The future of astronomy with small satellites
• Exoplanets with ELT-METIS I: Estimating the direct imaging exoplanet yield around stars within 6.5 parsecs
• Towards Precision Photometry with Extremely Large Telescopes: the Double Subgiant Branch of NGC 1851
• MICADO: first light imager for the E-ELT
• Point spread function modelling for astronomical telescopes: a review focused on weak gravitational lensing studies
• High spatial resolution optical imaging of the multiple T Tauri system LkHα 262/LkHα 263
• Phase correction for ALMA - Investigating water vapour radiometer scaling:The long-baseline science verification data case study
• Single conjugate adaptive optics for the ELT instrument METIS
• Astronomical photonics in the context of infrared interferometry and high-resolution spectroscopy
• On the comparison between MASS and G-SCIDAR techniques
• Impact of climate change on site characteristics of eight major astronomical observatories using high-resolution global climate projections until 2050
• The Proper Motion of Pyxis: the first use of Adaptive Optics in tandem with HST on a faint halo object
• Massive High-Redshift Quiescent Galaxies With JWST
• The Role of AGN in Luminous Infrared Galaxies from the Multiwavelength Perspective
• Predicting the Observability of Population III Stars with ELT-HARMONI via the Helium $1640\mathring{\mathrm{A}}$ emission line
• Extrapolated speckle-correlation imaging
• Astrometry in two-photon interferometry using Earth rotation fringe scan
• Artificial neural networks for centroiding elongated spots in Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors
• Optimal stellar photometry for multi-conjugate adaptive optics systems using science-based metrics
• SFADI: the Speckle-Free Angular Differential Imaging method
• Detection and Implications of Laser-Induced Raman Scattering at Astronomical Observatories
• Improved prior for adaptive optics point spread function estimation from science images: Application for deconvolution
• Multiresolution angular momentum measurements of z~1.5-2 star-forming galaxies
• Solar image quality assessment: a proof of concept using Variance of Laplacian method and its application to optical atmospheric condition monitoring
• All-fibre wavefront sensor
• A Practical Deconvolution Computation Algorithm to Extract 1D Spectra from 2D Images of Optical Fiber Spectroscopy
• DanceCam: atmospheric turbulence mitigation in wide-field astronomical images with short-exposure video streams
• The Chandra Deep Field South as a test case for Global Multi Conjugate Adaptive Optics
• Discovery of an M-type Companion to the Herbig Ae Star V1787 Ori
• Long-term 4.6$\mu$m Variability in Brown Dwarfs and a New Technique for Identifying Brown Dwarf Binary Candidates
• MAD Adaptive Optics Imaging of High Luminosity Quasars: A Pilot Project
• Reference Optical Turbulence and Wind Profiles for Single Conjugate and Extreme Adaptive Optics
• A low-steering piezo-driven mirror
• Evaluating the GeoSnap 13-$\mu$m Cut-Off HgCdTe Detector for mid-IR ground-based astronomy
• Metasurface Enhanced Spatial Mode Decomposition
• Advances in control of a Pyramid Single Conjugate Adaptive Optics system
• A Shallow Slope for the Stellar Mass--Angular Momentum Relation of Star-Forming Galaxies at $1.5<z<2.5$
• Laser-only adaptive optics achieves significant image quality gains compared to seeing-limited observations over the entire sky
• Towards high-resolution astronomical imaging
• Multi-parameter study for a new Ground-Based telescope in Egypt
• Astrophotonics -- current capabilities and the road ahead
• Light Propagation through Space-Time Non-Markovian Random Media
• PSF-based Analysis for Detecting Unresolved Wide Binaries
• Wavefront sensing from the image domain with the Oxford-SWIFT integral field spectrograph
• A 5kHz modulator for pyramid wavefront sensors
• Focal-plane wavefront sensing with moderately broadband light using a short multi-mode fiber