CAS AS 101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Adaptive Optics, Spectroscopy, Spectral Resolution
8 Sep 2016
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Refraction: the bending of light when it passes from one substance into another. Sun appears distorted at sunset because of how light bends in earth"s atmosphere. 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! Digital cameras detect light with charge-coupled devices (ccds) 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. What are the 2 most important properties of a telescope: light-collecting area: telescopes with a larger collecting area can gather a greater amount of light in a shorter time. A telescope"s diameter tells us its light-collecting area: The largest telescopes currently in use have a diameter of about 10 meters.
