Gemini North with Laser Guide Star

A 180-degree fisheye view of the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawai‘i lit by moonlight and the red glow of a passing automobile’s taillights shining through the wind-vent gates. At the top of the 7-story high telescope structure the laser guide star (LGS) can be seen propagating into the sky where it creates an artificial star used by an adaptive optics system to correct for distortions caused by turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere.