Mirror coating being inspected shortly after first aluminum coating of the Gemini North mirror in 1999 Full Resolution TIF (17.2 MB) Medium Resolution JPG (188 KB) Gemini Observatory Image/Video Usage Policy

ALTAIR (ALTtitude congugate Adaptive optics for the InfraRed) is the facility natural/laser guide star adaptive optics system of the Gemini North telescope. It can feed a corrected beam to Gemini instruments NIRI and NIFS. Deploying ALTAIR is "transparent" for the science instrument, as it reproduces the telescope focal ratio (f/16), pupil size and pupil position.