Imaging the dense stellar cluster R136 with VLT-MAD

Author(s)
M. A. Campbell, C. J. Evans, J. Ascenso, A. J. Longmore, J. Kolb, M. Gieles, J. Alves
Abstract

We evaluate the performance of the Multi-conjugate Adaptive optics Demonstrator (MAD) from H and Ks imaging of 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Maps of the full-width half maximum (FWHM) of point sources in the H and Ks images are presented, together with maps of the Strehl ratio achieved in the Ks-band observations. Each of the three natural guide stars was at the edge of the MAD field-of-view, and the observations were obtained at relatively large airmass (1.4-1.6). Even so, the Strehl ratio achieved in the second pointing (best-placed compared to the reference stars) ranged from 15% to an impressive 30%. Preliminary photometric calibration of the first pointing indicates 5σ sensitivities ofKs~21.75 and H~22.25 (from 22 and 12 min exposures,respectively).

Organisation(s)
External organisation(s)
Universidade do Porto, European Southern Observatory (Germany), The Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, European Southern Observatory (Chile), Centro Astronómico Hispano Alemán (CAHA)
Journal
Proceedings of SPIE
Volume
7015
ISSN
0277-786X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1117/12.788964
Publication date
07-2008
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
103004 Astrophysics
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/f0682929-6c2b-4caf-97dd-5a37b72e32eb