[Optical effects of atmospheric turbulence in astronomical images]
The often blurry appearance of astronomical images at a telescope focus is attributed to atmospheric agitation.
The study of the light propagation through the turbulent Earth atmosphere has made it possible to understand the existence of optical turbulence resulting from diffraction phenomena that accompany the refraction of light rays.
Optical turbulence is described by parameters (Fried parameter, isoplanetism angle, coherence time, external scale) which characterize the amplitude and the phase of the wave front on the telescope pupil.
We deduce the properties of the images (short or long exposure) formed at the telescope focus as well as the description of the effects of turbulence on these images (scintillation, agitation, spreading) and on interferometric observations (piston effect).
L’aspect souvent flou des images astronomiques au foyer d’un télescope est attribué à l’agitation atmosphérique.
L’étude de la propagation des ondes lumineuses à travers l’atmosphère terrestre turbulente a permis de comprendre l’existence d’une turbulence optique résultant des phénomènes de diffraction qui accompagnent la réfraction des rayons lumineux.
La turbulence optique est décrite par des paramètres (paramètre de Fried, angle d’isoplanétisme, temps de cohérence, échelle externe) qui caractérisent l’amplitude et la phase du front d’onde sur la pupille du télescope.
On en déduit les propriétés des images (à courte ou longue pose) formées au foyer du télescope ainsi que la description des effets de la turbulence sur ces images (scintillation, agitation, étalement) et sur les observations interférométriques (effet piston).
Published online:
Keywords: Atmospheric turbulence, Optical turbulence, Image formation, High angular resolution, Adaptative optics, Site testing, Astronomy
CC-BY 4.0
@article{CRPHYS_2022__23_S1_269_0,
author = {Daniel Bonneau},
title = {Les effets optiques de la turbulence atmosph\'erique dans les images astronomiques},
journal = {Comptes Rendus. Physique},
pages = {269--291},
publisher = {Acad\'emie des sciences, Paris},
volume = {23},
number = {S1},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.5802/crphys.101},
language = {fr},
}
Daniel Bonneau. Les effets optiques de la turbulence atmosphérique dans les images astronomiques. Comptes Rendus. Physique, Volume 23 (2022) no. S1, pp. 269-291. doi : 10.5802/crphys.101. https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/physique/articles/10.5802/crphys.101/
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