Stellar Systems Group

Schodel, R.; Girard, J. H.
The Messenger, vol. 150, p. 26-29 (2012).
12/2012

ABSTRACT

Speckle holography can be used to reconstruct high angular resolution images from long series of short exposures if the point spread function (PSF) from each frame can be measured reliably. We show that through use of multiple reference stars and iterative PSF subtraction, we can obtain highly accurate PSFs. The technique is optimised for crowded fields and results in images with excellent cosmetics and high Strehl ratio from the optical to the mid-infrared regimes. With examples from NACO, VISIR, and HAWK-I we show that holography opens up novel and unforeseen possibilities and can be an attractive alternative to adaptive optics.