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Ground-based optical telescopes are essential to astronomy and astrophysics research, but they are severely impacted by dynamic aberrations caused by the atmosphere. The most important dynamic aberrations include atmospheric turbulence, dome turbulence and optical surface shape deformations. A complete dynamic aberrations profile needs to be ascertained to accurately plan, confirm, or compensate for the loss in image quality. Optimising the achievable image quality is essential to maximising the telescope’s scientific impact. This thesis colloquium presents the results that address dynamic aberration knowledge gaps for the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT), Siding Spring Observatory (SSO), and the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT). |
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