Hey why not make a real Adaptive optics system for Amateur Astronomers? Lasers lighting up sodium in the stratosphere is unlikely to become available but here are some thoughts for budding Astronomers to be thinking about...

Correcting atmospheric translation
(i.e. tracking objects as the seeing moves them outside the predicted path)

There are already two commercial products available to amateur astronomers, the AO7 which uses plane mirrors to keep the object static and the Starlight Express SVX-AO which uses a plate glass deviatior plate, both rely on a second CCD to monitor the field just outside the main CCD's field. These systems are really 'Active Optics' rather than true Adaptive optics, but do offer sub second tracking.

Correcting Atmospheric defocus
(i.e. where the seeing pushes your perfectly focused object in/out of focus)- or for the technical minded correcting an aberrated wave-front

There are currently (2006) no commercial commercial solutions to correct an aberrated wave-front, the closest amateurs will get, is to auto-focus on objects, these (expensive) systems are based upon the marriage of 3 separate systems.

1) An electric focuser
2) Encoders to read the position of the focuser
3) CCD control software such as MaxIm DL/CCD or CCDSoft

The problem; this currently can't be done with millisecond speed, and simply changes the focus across the whole wave-front

What's needed is a single solution...

...if we are checking a separate CCD to correct for atmospheric translation, why not use this to also check for and adjust the wave-front using a wave front sensor and small deformable mirror? I'll leave you, the reader to work out the details...

Update...

Perhaps this concept design from Imperial College London is what amateurs have been waiting for...