AST 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Adaptive Optics, Light Curve, Spectroscopy

• School: Stony Brook University
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: AST 101
• Professor: Jin Koda

Document Summary

Refraction is the bending of light when it passes from one substance into another. Refraction can cause parallel light rays to converge to a focus. The focal plane is where light from different directions comes into focus. The image behind a single (convex) lens is actually upside-down! A camera focuses light like an eye and captures the image with a detector. The ccd detectors in digital cameras are similar to those used in modern telescopes. Light-collecting area: telescopes with a larger collecting area can gather a greater amount of light in a shorter time. Angular resolution: telescopes that are larger are capable of taking images with greater detail. A telescope"s diameter tells us its light-collecting area. The largest optical telescopes currently in use have a diameter of about 10 meters. The minimum angular separation that the telescope can distinguish. A larger telescope gives a higher angular resolution. Refracting telescopes need to be very long with large, heavy lenses.