  Long-exposure stellar images recorded with large ground-based telescopes are
blurred due to the turbulent nature of the atmosphere. The VLT employs active
and adaptive optics (AO) systems to compensate for the deleterious effects of
the atmosphere in real time. The speckle imaging technique provides an
alternative way to achieve diffraction-limited imaging by post-processing a
series of short-exposure images. The use of speckle imaging with the no-AO mode
of NACO at the VLT is demonstrated. Application of this technique is
particularly suited to the J-band and it provides versatile high angular
resolution imaging under mediocre conditions and/or in imaging extended
objects. The implementation of this mode underlines the continuing
attractiveness of NACO at the VLT.
