Getting the Blasted Thing to Work Right or Even Work at All

doi:10.1117/3.2054334.ch10

Book: Lighter Side of Adaptive Optics

Author(s): Robert K. Tyson

Published: 2009

https://doi.org/10.1117/3.2054334.ch10

Author Affiliations +

Abstract

So now we have it. We get all our mirrors, lenses, beamsplitters, cameras, and assorted mounts and put them all together. We screw them down. We have to align them. We have to register the DM and the wavefront sensor. We have to turn on our really cool sodium laser to make a laser guide star way up in the sky and then we flip the switch and … BAM! Barbara and Kenneth enter the picture. As they fix their marital difficulties, they have found that when Barbara makes a small change in her behavior, Kenneth responds with a small change in his behavior. (Kenneth usually has to work very hard to forget about the quarterback calamity.) Looking at the outcome of all their actions, each one tries to make sure that the entire system, described by Dr. Mannheart as their marriage, is improving. Barbara and Kenneth adapt to each other and have finally agreed that neither one is right all the time.