UnISIS - Science Commissioning of a Laser Guide Star System

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AST-0096741Thompson, Laird A.UnISIS is a laser guided adaptive optics system located at the Coude focus of the Mount Wilson 2.5-m Telescope. It is unique in providing a test-bed for Rayleigh laser guide star work in astronomical adaptive optics. A three-year program has been defined to bring UnISIS through the Science Commissioning phase and to make some of the first deep-sky astronomical observations with a laser guided adaptive optics system. These science observations will be the highest priority aspect of this research work. In addition, the performance of UnISIS will be analyzed by comparing theoretical simulations (including atmospheric turbulence) with on-the-sky observations. This analysis should reveal the relative importance of factors such as (1) the deformable mirror fitting error, (2) focal anisoplanatism (i.e. laser guide star cone effect), (3) temporal sampling errors, and (4) signal-to-noise dependent errors at the wave front sensor. Both the science observations and the system performance analysis should have general application to other adaptive optics systems because the atmosphere above Mt. Wilson Observatory provides some of the best observing conditions in the world.This work will support a postdoctoral student through the NSF Center for Adaptive Optics.***