SIMBAD references

Adaptive optics (AO) is a technology that corrects in real time for the blurring effects of atmospheric turbulence, in principle allowing Earth-bound telescopes to achieve their diffraction limit and to ``see'' as clearly as if they were in space. The power of AO using natural guide stars has been amply demonstrated in recent years on telescopes up to 3-4 m in diameter. The next breakthrough in astronomical resolution was expected to occur with the implementation of AO on the new generation of large, 8-10 m diameter telescopes. In this paper we report the initial results from the first of these AO systems, now coming on line on the 10 m diameter Keck II Telescope. The results include the highest angular resolution images ever obtained from a single telescope (0".022 and 0".040 at 0.85 and 1.65 µm wavelengths, respectively), as well as tests of system performance on three astronomical targets.