adaptive optics

American  

noun

1. the branch of optics that compensates for image distortions, especially by means of flexible mirrors or membranes.

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adaptive optics British  

noun

1. a technique used to increase the resolution of a ground-based astronomical telescope by counteracting the effects of the atmosphere on the image. A deforming mirror in the light path of the telescope maintains a pointlike image of the celestial body using either a real star or a laser beam as a reference

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Example Sentences

To correct for this, the Subaru Telescope team used adaptive optics, a technology that continuously adjusts to cancel out these distortions and stabilize the light waves in real time.

From Science Daily • Oct. 25, 2025

Dr Elise Vernet is an adaptive optics specialist at ESO and has been overseeing development of the five giant mirrors that will gather and channel light to the telescope’s measuring equipment.

From BBC • Aug. 19, 2024

Furthermore, they improved the sensitivity and controllability of the sensor by combining adaptive optics technology used in fields such as space optics, such as the James Webb Telescope.

From Science Daily • Apr. 16, 2024

Astronomers solve this problem by filtering starlight with an item known as a coronagraph, which blocks out the bright central area of the star, and by keeping images steady and crisp with adaptive optics technology.

From Scientific American • May 11, 2023

One of the clearest pictures of Jupiter ever taken from the ground, this image was produced with adaptive optics using an 8-meter-diameter telescope at the Very Large Telescope in Chile.

From Textbooks • Oct. 13, 2016