AFRL-Sponsored Adaptive Optics Research Produces Images With Resolution 10 Times Higher Than That of Hubble Telescope Published July 30, 2007 AFOSR Public Affairs ARLINGTON, VA -- Using basic research funds from AFRL, a team of astronomers and astrophysicists successfully demonstrated the capability to photograph faint stars in space, producing high-resolution digital photographs with 10 times the resolution of images produced by the Hubble telescope. The team is located at the Center for Astronomical Adaptive Optics at the University of Arizona. To obtain the image, researchers used the multimirror telescope natural guide star adaptive optics system at the Steward Observatory, in Tucson, Arizona. It is the first adaptive optics system that uses a deformable secondary mirror to correct optical distortions introduced by the earth's atmosphere and provides defraction-limited imaging from 10 ยต to the near infrared. Multimirror telescope natural guide star adaptive optics system technology allows astronomers to explore faraway stars that are difficult to see even with modern telescopes, potentially leading to the discovery of new moons and planets. For the Air Force, this technology has the future potential to serve as a tool for observing and identifying faint objects near US-owned satellites in space.