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Diffraction Limit of Telescope

The diffraction limit is the minimum angular separation of two sources that a telescope can distinguish. It depends on the wavelength of light and the diameter of the telescope, with larger diameters and shorter wavelengths allowing closer separations to be resolved. Beyond this limit, two sources appear as a single blurred object rather than two distinct sources.

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54 views2 pages

Diffraction Limit of Telescope

The diffraction limit is the minimum angular separation of two sources that a telescope can distinguish. It depends on the wavelength of light and the diameter of the telescope, with larger diameters and shorter wavelengths allowing closer separations to be resolved. Beyond this limit, two sources appear as a single blurred object rather than two distinct sources.

Uploaded by

vabinguyen
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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What is the diffraction limit of a telescope?

The minimum angular separation of two sources that can be distinguished by a telescope depends on the wavelength of
the light being observed and thediameter of the telescope. This angle is called the DIFFRACTION LIMIT.

 In this equation, the


computed angle is in
radians. Remember that
there are 206,265
arcseconds in one
radian.
 Here are
some
examples of
calculations
.

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