Image: A Laser Strike at the Galactic Center

Description: Astronomers at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) site in Chile are trying to measure the distortions of Earth's ever changing atmosphere. Constant imaging of high-altitude atoms excited by the laser which appears like an artificial star allow astronomers to instantly measure atmospheric blurring. This information is fed back to a VLT telescope mirror which is then slightly deformed to minimize this blurring. In this case, a VLT was observing our Galaxy's centre, and so Earth's atmospheric blurring in that direction was needed. The beam is almost invisible to the naked eye. The photograph was taken over a period of time thereby making the beam visible.
Title: A Laser Strike at the Galactic Center
Credit: NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
Author: Yuri Beletsky
Permission: This photograph was produced by European Southern Observatory (ESO). Their website states: "All ESO still and motion pictures, with the exception of the ESO Logo, are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, unless the credit byline indicates otherwise." To the uploader: You must provide a link (URL) to the original file and the authorship information if available. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. You are free: to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work to remix – to adapt the work Under the following conditions: attribution – You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 truetrue
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
License: CC BY 4.0
License Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Attribution Required?: Yes