The 61-element adaptive optical system for the 1.2 m telescope of Yannan Observatory had been upgraded and in operation for astronomical observation. It is made up of the fine tracking loop,the higher-order correction loop and the high resolution imaging system.In order to improve the low-frequency compensation performance,the fine tracking system,which is used for correcting the vibration error of the telescope and the tip-tilt error induced by atmospheric turbulence,consists of two cascade control loop. The higher-order correction loop consists of a Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor,a 61-element deformable mirror,and a high speed digital wavefront sensor. The wavelengths for the Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor and the imaging observation range from 400～700 nm and 700～1000 nm respectively.The 61-element upgraded adaptive optical system for 1.2 m telescope of Yunnan Observatory is briefly described. The performance on the 61-element upgraded adaptive optical system is analyzed. Furthermore,the observational results for the stars are presented.