Adaptive Optics Untwinkling How did the world's largest telescopes conquer the tempestuous atmosphere? SHANNON HALL the Stars ETHAN TWEEDIE / WWW.ETHANTWEEDIE.COM The first few days of an observing run can be enchanting: the night sky so dark that familiar constellations are hard to find, the landscape typically barren and far from city lights, and the array of mirrors and instruments finally catching beams of light from the distant universe. But on one such evening in November 2013, high in the remote Chilean Andes, Bruce Macintosh was bored. Macintosh (Stanford University) led the team that built the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI), the first in its class of next-generation adaptive optics instruments. 30 May 2016 sky & telescope The team had mounted GPI on the immense 8.1-meter mirror of the Gemini South telescope, and the instrument would finally begin its planet search during this observing run. But it still had to go through an extended testing sequence, and Macintosh was finding the work tedious - he was anxious to "get on sky." ARTIFICIAL STARS Twin laser beams from the Keck telescopes atop Mauna Kea, Hawai'i, create artificial guide stars to aid adaptive optics observations of our galaxy's center.http://WWW.ETHANTWEEDIE.COM