NAOMI Nasmyth Adaptive Optics for Multipurpose Instrumentation

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NAOMINasmyth Adaptive Optics for Multi-purpose
Instrumentation
University of Durham Astronomical Instrumentation
Group
NAOMI First Commissioning Results This image
was taken at the William Herschel Telescope on
the night of 11th September 2000 using the NAOMI
adaptive optics instrument and the Isaac Newton
Groups infra-red camera INGRiD. The image shows
the planetary nebula BD30 3639 and two adjacent
stars. The star at the centre of the planetary
nebula is about 9th magnitude and was used as the
guide star for adaptive optics correction. The
image was taken in approximately 0.8 arcsecond
seeing using a K-short filter at a wavelength of
2.16µm. A diffraction ring is clearly visible
around the guide star. The Full Width Half
Maximum of the guide star is 3.24 pixels. INGRiD
has a pixel scale of 0.04 arcseconds per pixel,
so the angular FWHM is 0.129 arcseconds - the
diffraction limit!