Astronomers captured vivid, sharper images of the night sky using a new camera developed by the University of Arizona, the Arcetri Observatory near Florence, Italy and the Carnegie Observatory.

Researchers have been developing the camera technology for more than 20 years.  The new adaptive optics system is called MagAO for "Magellan Adaptive Optics," according to a news release.  The technology was published in three scientific papers in the Astrophysical Journal.

"It was very exciting to see this new camera make the night sky look sharper than has ever before been possible," UA astronomy professor Laird Close, the project's principal scientist, said in a news release. "We can, for the first time, make long-exposure images that resolve objects just 0.02 arcseconds across - the equivalent of a dime viewed from more than a hundred miles away. At that resolution, you could see a baseball diamond on the moon."

According to a news release, the University was able for the first time to use a telescope "with a large diameter primary mirror is being used for digital photography at its theoretical resolution limit in visible wavelengths - light that the human eye can see."

"As the system was being tested and received what astronomers call "first light," the team pointed it to a famous and well-studied massive star that gives the Great Orion Nebula (Object M42) most of its UV light," the University said.  "The Orion Nebula, located just below Orion's Belt visible as smudge of light even with regular binoculars."

The images taken with the new technology are reportedly twice as sharp as images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope.  Inside the camera is a 21-foot diameter mirror, larger than what can be found in the Hubble or Magellan telescope.

"As we move towards shorter wavelengths, image sharpness improves," said Jared Males, a NASA Sagan Fellow at the UA's department of astronomy. "Until now, large telescopes could make the theoretically sharpest photos only in infrared - or long wavelength - light, but our new camera can take photos that are twice as sharp in the visible light spectrum."

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