Babcock H W
Science. 1990 Jul 20;249(4966):253-7. doi: 10.1126/science.249.4966.253.
From the earliest days and nights of telescopic astronomy, atmospheric turbulence has been a serious detriment to optical performance. The new technology of adaptive optics can overcome this problem by compensating for the wavefront distortion that results from turbulence. The result will be large gains in resolving power and limiting magnitude, closely approaching the theoretical limit. In other words, telescopic images will be very significantly sharpened. Rapid and accelerating progress is being made today by several groups. Adaptive optics, together with the closely related technology of active optics, seems certain to be utilized in large astronomical telescopes of the future. This may entail significant changes in telescope design.
从早期的望远镜天文学观测开始，大气湍流就一直严重损害光学性能。自适应光学新技术可以通过补偿由湍流导致的波前畸变来克服这个问题。其结果将是分辨率和极限星等大幅提高，非常接近理论极限。换句话说，望远镜图像将得到非常显著的锐化。如今，几个研究团队正在取得迅速且不断加速的进展。自适应光学以及与之密切相关的主动光学技术，似乎肯定会在未来的大型天文望远镜中得到应用。这可能会给望远镜设计带来重大变革。
