Animation of the light path through the VLTI's GRAVITY+ instrument (VIDEO)
Caption
This animation, provided by the Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), shows the path of light inside GRAVITY+, an instrument and a large and complex upgrade to ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). As light travels from a cosmic source into the individual Unit Telescopes of the VLT, and then inside the VLTI tunels where it's combined, lasers are project from each of the telescopes. The lasers are each used to create an artificial star, which astronomers use to measure and then correct the blur caused by Earth's atmosphere.
Credit
Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE)
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License
CC BY-NC-SA