Announcement to the
communities - Early January 2006
2011-2012
- CFHT dome - Mauna-Kea summit ridge.
The 3.6-m
telescope provides, on 100% of the sky, on-axis diffraction limited
(strehl >
30%) imaging in the visible at 700nm or higher, and 50 mas resolution
from 350nm to
700nm under good (0.65 arc-sec or better) seeing.
A nice dream,
isn't it?
Well, this
dream could come true with a CFHT-led concept: VASAO, “Visible All
Sky Adaptive
Optics”.
Building on
an extensive and successful experience in Adaptive Optics (AO) and
on recent
developments made in the CFHT funding nations, VASAO is an integrated
AO system
that would allow diffraction limited imaging of the whole sky in the
visible,
thanks to a polychromatic mode-less laser guide star coupled to a
specially
designed tip-tilt sensor used with Pueo-Hou, a refurbished and
improved AO
bonnette based on Pueo, the current CFHT AO system. VASAO could open
a new era in
astronomical observations in the visible, providing a 100% coverage
of the Mauna
Kea sky at a resolution better than the Hubble Space Telescope, and
similar in
the visible to what larger telescopes can obtain in the near-infrared.
VASAO, if
proven feasible, would serve three purposes: – prepare the future of
the
Corporation for 2011 and beyond by offering exciting scientific
possibilities
– provide the communities with an opportunity to validate new
technologies
or ideas to be potentially used for other developments on ELTs –
get the best
of the creativity of the skilled staff otherwise needed at CFHT to
maintain and
even improve the quality and efficiency of the services currently
provided by
the observatory.
You have some
ideas on which kind of scientific projects could be pursued with
VASAO, or
which instrument(s) could make good use of the VASO focal plane? You
want to
follow the feasibility study conducted by CFHT over the year 2006? You
don’t like
the concept and you have other ideas on what could come on the
telescope
around 2011-2012? Please join the email-based forum, accessible
through the
VASAO web page at www.cfht.hawaii.edu/VASAO/ , and share your
ideas
with the CFHT
communities and the project team!
Best wishes
for 2006, and a warm aloha to all.
Christian
Veillet – CFHT Executive Director