Sputnik, reality, and technology -- Early days : the Romans -- Rome and Itek : first adaptive optics systems -- Laser guide stars -- Fugate's Rayleigh guide star experiments -- Lincoln laboratory -- Sharing the gold : astronomical nuggets -- Strategic defense initiative -- Airborne laser -- 3.5-meter military telescope complex : Starfire Optical Range, New Mexico -- 3.67-meter military telescope complex : Maui, Hawaii -- Sodium guide star laser : the future
Summary
Duffner has compiled the history of the most revolutionary breakthrough in astronomy since Galileo pointed his telescope skyward--the technology that will greatly expand our understanding of the universe
