Several billion miles from Earth, Neptune's looking particularly sharp in a set of new images captured by one of the most powerful telescopes in the world. 。

Located in Chile, the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) used what's known as laser tomography to capture test images of the planet and surrounding star clusters.。

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The telescope's Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument works with what's called the GALACSI adaptive optics module.This allows the telescope to correct for turbulence at different altitudes in the atmosphere, resulting in some incredibly clear, sharp images captured from Earth.。

MUSE is the first instrument to benefit from two adaptive optics modes: wide field and narrow. The narrow field mode is what's generating these incredibly sharp images of Neptune — it corrects almost。 all。all
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of the turbulence above the telescope, but only over a smaller section of the sky.。Mashable Light SpeedWant more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories?Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. 。By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
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Not sure how to visualize the difference? Here's an idea of what the planet looks like through the telescope with and without adaptive optics.。

The image on the right is without the adaptive optics system in operation and the one on the left after the adaptive optics are switched on.Credit: ESO/P. Weilbacher (AIP)。

ESO says these images are sharper than those taken of Neptune with the Hubble Space Telescope. Here's a comparison between the VLT and the Hubble, which has captured an exceptional image of Neptune, but it's undeniably not as clear. 。

The image on the right is a comparable image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Note that the two images were not taken at the same time so do not show identical surface features.Credit: ESO/P. Weilbacher (AIP)/NASA, ES 。

And just for fun, here's how detailed the VLT's images of surrounding star clusters are. 。

The image on the left is from MUSE in Wide Field Mode, without the adaptive optics system in operation and the centre panel is an enlargement of a small part of this view. The image on the right is the view from the Narrow-Field Mode of MUSE when adaptive optics are switched on.Credit: ESO/S. Kammann (LJMU)。

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Several billion miles away and looking crisp. While you're out there, why not drop by Titan, Saturn's equally sharp-looking moon?

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