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canopic jug [soylentnews.org] writes:

The 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 [eso.org] 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.

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