Exploiting new technology to enhance ground-based astronomy

该项目旨在通过积极实时校正地球大气的有害影响，发展概念和技术，以提高现代天文台的能力。该学生将参与世界各地天文台现场测试仪器的开发、部署和利用，以提高我们对地球大气对天文观测影响的认识。他们希望将这些结果应用于改善自适应光学或闪烁（星星的闪烁）校正系统的性能，或用于天文台站点光学湍流条件的预测。这项工作将直接适用于下一代巨型望远镜，例如位于智利的40米欧洲超大望远镜。使他们能够实现他们的科学目标，包括发现太阳系外行星，重建星系的形成，甚至阐明暗物质和暗能量的本质。该学生将加入杜伦大学物理系内的先进仪器中心（CfAI）的动态环境。CfAI是世界领先的研究中心，拥有庞大而成功的天文仪器团队，包括自适应光学和空间科学技术。自适应光学小组在分析大气湍流和使用复杂光学系统的计算机建模为一些世界上首屈一指的天文台设计光学仪器方面拥有丰富的经验。CfAI多年来一直处于太空研究的前沿，为詹姆斯韦伯太空望远镜和地球观测卫星SENTINEL 4和METimage生产关键光学元件。”

The aim of this studentship is to develop concepts and technologies to advance the capabilities of modern astronomical observatories by actively correcting for the detrimental effects of the Earth's atmosphere in real-time.The student will engage with the development, deployment and exploitation of site-testing instrumentation at observatory sites around the world, to improve our understanding of the effects of the Earth's atmosphere on astronomical observations. They will look to apply these results to improve the performance of adaptive optical or scintillation (the twinkling of the stars) correction systems, or to the forecasting of optical turbulence conditions at observatory sites. This work will be directly applicable to the next generation of giant telescopes, such as the 40 metre European Extremely Large Telescope in Chile. Enabling them to reach their science goals including discovering extra-solar planets, reconstructing the formation of galaxies, and even elucidate the nature of dark matter and dark energy.The student will join the dynamic environment of the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation (CfAI), within the Physics Department at Durham University. The CfAI is a world leading research centre with a large and successful Astronomical Instrumentation group, including Adaptive Optics and Space Science technologies. The Adaptive Optics group has significant experience in analysing atmospheric turbulence and the use of computer modelling of complex optical systems to design optical instrumentation to some of the world's premier astronomical observatories. The CfAI has also been at the cutting edge of space research for many years producing key optical components for instruments on the James Webb Space Telescope and Earth observation satellites SENTINEL 4 and METimage."