A laser printer is being used in a new imaging technique to capture a “night and a day” view of the Milky Hall.
The device uses an array of tiny laser beams to focus the laser beams onto the surface of the light in the centre of the galaxy, and then produces images that can be viewed through a digital camera.
It is the first time a laser printing system has been used to produce such high-resolution images, according to a study published in the journal Nature Communications.
The paper’s authors are Dr Robert Prentice and Dr Peter Tappe of the University of Adelaide in Australia.
The image was produced using the Advanced Laser Induced Phase Interferometry (ALSIP), a new technology developed by the University’s Advanced Laser Infrared Imaging (ALI) Group.
The lasers are designed to produce images of light that are focused into the centre where they can be used to generate a series of images of the entire Galaxy, the researchers said.
“We were hoping to make a laser printable image that would be suitable for use in telescopes,” said Dr Prentice.
“The image we made looks like a day, with a few bright stars in the middle.”
The images show the night and a few dark ones in the center, but are not perfect.
The image from the Advanced Lensing Imaging Spectrometer Laser System (ALISL) camera has been compared to the Hubble Space Telescope’s image, with the former being brighter, and the latter darker.
This is because the ALISL images have been compressed and smoothed.
The researchers believe the compressed image makes it appear like the image is a bit brighter than it really is, but the ALI laser is able to produce the same image at a much lower resolution than Hubble.
The team used a range of optical techniques to produce these images.
They were also able to detect light in a region of the image known as the HSTS-2 region, which is around 1.4 million light years away.”HSTS2 is one of the most difficult regions to image using ALISP, but this work is an important step towards a solution,” said co-author Dr James Smith, from the University College London.
“This new method allows us to see what the light is like in the HSPH2 region and it can help us understand how the galaxy was formed.”
The image shows the night with a bright star in the background, but is not perfect, due to the presence of haze in the image.
The images were combined with a series to create a more detailed map of the Galaxy, with regions of high light seen in the foreground.
“Our goal is to build a system that can create a wide variety of images, with many different wavelengths of light and colour, and combine them to produce a more realistic and detailed image,” said study lead author Dr Michael Gough from the UK’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.
The study has been funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), the Australian National Science Foundation, and Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation (ADSO).