The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has been able to capture telescopic images at visible wavelengths from the ground that are sharper than those from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The ground-based Very Large Telescope (VLT) has used an adaptive optics mode called laser tomography to capture images of distant objects in the solar system. The laser tomagraphy compensates for atmospheric turbulence resulting in more detail than anything prior. It works by stimulating sodium ions in the upper atmosphere using two pairs of lasers to calculate the turbulence and adjusting a deformable secondary mirror thousands of times per second in response.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 28 2018, @07:13AM
JWST is primarily an infrared telescope. Earth's atmosphere attenuates the wavelengths JWST is focused on [sic].
The infrared design is to help image distant objects whose light has been red-shifted that much due to their distance.