Professional Documents
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Lick
Vienna
Yerkes
Observatory
Largest refracting
telescope with a
one meter objective
20th century Large Reflectors Come
of Age
4.1 meter
SOAR Telescope -- Cerro Pachon
SOAR Observing Room
SOAR Image of the planetary nebula NGC 2440
MSU Campus Observatory
Boller & Chivens reflecting telescope with a 24-
inch objective mirror
More on resolution
• Eagle-eyed Dawes
• The Dawes Limit
R = 4.56/D
Where
R = resolution in seconds of
arc
D = diameter of objective in
inches
More appropriate for visible
light and small telescopes
A more general expression for the
theoretical resolving power
• Imagine that star
images look like Airy
disks
Minimum Angle that can be
resolved
• R = 1.22 x 206,265 λ / d
R = resolution in seconds of arc
λ = wavelength of light
d = diameter of the objective lens or mirror