Maaike van Kooten

Dr. Maaike van Kooten is pushing the limits of how clearly humanity can see the universe. Working in astronomy instrumentation, she specializes in adaptive optics, technology that corrects the blur caused by Earth’s atmosphere in ground-based telescopes. “We measure what the atmosphere is doing and move a small mirror into curved shapes to de-blur and provide crisp images for astronomers,” she explains. Though this was an effective method, the direct imaging of exoplanets was still limited by a very short but impactful delay (~ 2milli-seconds). Using predictive mathematical models to anticipate atmospheric shifts milliseconds ahead of time, she and her colleagues were able to account for this delay, resulting in image performance doubling — or even tripling — on some of the world’s largest telescopes.

A Research Officer at the National Research Council’s Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre, van Kooten works at the intersection of astronomy, physics and engineering. Drawn to the field’s multidisciplinary nature, she designs and tests advanced optical systems that dramatically sharpen telescope images, particularly of planets orbiting distant stars with far greater clarity.

The impact is scientific and foundational. By improving image quality close to bright stars, adaptive optics allows astronomers to study smaller exoplanets and planetary systems at earlier stages of formation. These discoveries deepen our knowledge of the universe and our place within it.

For Dr. Maaike van Kooten, research is both knowledge and opportunity. “Canada is contributing on a global scale in astronomy through not only key R&D but also designing and building state-of-the-art systems.” Every advance in telescope technology opens new windows into the universe and expands the range of questions scientists worldwide can ask and answer about it.

In sharpening our view of distant worlds, Canadian research continues to expand humanity’s horizons, one millisecond at a time.

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