Astronomy 1021 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Minute And Second Of Arc, Optical Aberration, False Color

• School: Western University
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: Astronomy 1021
• Professor: Robert Cockcroft

Document Summary

>the bigger the diameter of the lens, the greater chance of collecting photons. >when dealing with diameter, think of area ex with lc: 16/4 = 4 -> 4^2 = 16 times. Resolving power = how good is your angular resolution. > how well you can separate two objects in the sky. Our eyes are good to about 1 arc minute. >less than 1 arc minute then you can"t see detail, but more so a blur. >depends on how far one object is from the other and how far your object is. >the lowest angular resolution that can be achieved with a given telescope: diffraction limits. >smaller objects would use higher magni cation (increase the magni cation) >you can make mirrors bigger as opposed to making lenses bigger. >> larger mirrors are easier to make (cheaper) and instal. Exam: he can ask you to identify which telescope this is (coude, prime, etc)