2018 Volume 81 Issue 4 Pages 345-350
Images obtained through a ground-based telescope are blurred by atmospheric turbulence. Adaptive optics corrects the wavefront distortion caused by the atmospheric turbulence in real-time and realizes the diffraction-limited resolu tion of the telescope. This paper reviews adaptive optics systems for astronomy. First, the properties of atmospheric turbulence and the basic system configuration of adaptive optics systems are explained. Then, recent activities of adaptive optics development, especially that for small telescopes, are introduced.