"Можда су црне тачке биле птице у лету..." (Maybe the black dots were birds in flight)

Notes on AMATEUR TELESCOPE OPTICS

On an early autumn day of 1608, Hans Lipperhey, a spectacle maker from Middelburg, in the Netherlands' coastal province of Zeeland, applied before the States General of The Hague for a patent on an "instrument for seeing far". By that time, use of small rounded glass disks to aid the natural eyesight wasn't new. Those bulging out on both sides, resembling lentil - or "lens" in Latin - have been used to correct for farsightedness since the mid 13th century. The idea of a device for magnifying distant objects may have been already grasped for some time as well. But this was the beginning of something else. In the summer of 1609, Galileo, Harriot, and others, turned the new Dutch invention - the "spyglass" - toward the night sky. The telescope was born.

This tale grew old, but our fascination with telescopes has not. Following text is an attempt to give more of an insight into their inner workings. More specifically, how do they form images and what factors determine their quality.

Somewhat unusual, the main aspect is that of the optical wavefront, as opposed to the geometric (ray) "interface". That deliberate choice, while perhaps somewhat less convenient, allows for more accurate qualitative assessment, and should throw more light at the underlying physical fundamentals. Main reference sources are as follows: (1) Astronomical Optics, Daniel J. Schroeder, (2) Aberration Theory Made Simple, Virendra N. Mahajan, (3) Optical Imaging and Aberrations I and II, Virendra N. Mahajan, (4) Optics, Eugene Hecht, and (5) Telescope Optics, Harrie Rutten and Martin van Venrooij. Most of raytracing plots and routine checkups are by ATMOS, Massimo Riccardi, and OSLO, Sinclair Optics. Most of diffraction patterns were generated by Aberrator, Cor Berrevoets.

For additional reading, see extensive coverage of telescope optics and related subjects at Bruce MacEvoy's Astronomical optics (descriptive), and Solo Hermelin's SlideShares (mathematical). For related graphics, Wyant College website.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

 1. IMAGE FORMATION IN A TELESCOPE
Rays and waves  Diffraction  PSF
1.2. Reflection and refraction
1.3. Optical system of a telescope
1.3.1 Gaussian approximation

2. TELESCOPE FUNCTIONS
2.1. Light grasp
2.2. Resolution
2.3. Magnification

3. TELESCOPE ABERRATIONS: Types, causes
3.1. Wavefront aberrations
3.2. Ray (geometric) aberrations*
3.3. Conics and aberrations 2
3.4. Terms and conventions
3.5. Aberration function Seidel Zernike 2 3

4. INTRINSIC TELESCOPE ABERRATIONS     
4.1. Spherical   Primary 2   Higher-order  
4.2. Coma*  4.3. Astigmatism*  
4.4. Defocus
  4.5. Distortion  4.6. Field curvature
4.7. Chromatism   axial   lateral   effect*
4.8. Fabrication errors  4.8.1. Optical tests
Double pass test   Interferometry 
Foucault  Ronchi  Waineo 
Hindle  Dall/Ross  Offner

4.9. Transmission materials effects
glass  coatings

 5. INDUCED ABERRATIONS
5.1. Air-medium errors
Seeing error   Model limitations

Seeing and aperture
The seeing Strehl, resolution, OTF

5.2. Low-level turbulence, tube currents,
atmospheric refraction/dispersion

5.3. Alignment errors*
5.4. Force-induced surface errors

 6. EFFECTS OF WAVEFRONT ABERRATIONS
6.1. Aberrations and optical quality: Criteria*
6.2. General effects   6.3. Object type related* 2
6.4. Diffraction pattern    Star test*
6.5. Strehl ratio   6.6. MTF* 2 3

 7. OBSTRUCTION EFFECTS 2 3 4* 5*

 8. REFLECTING OBJECTIVES
8.1. Newtonian*   off-axis  collimation  diagonal flat
8.2. All-reflecting two-mirror* 2* 3* 4 5* 6
8.3. Three-mirror
Cassegrain-Gregorian   Paul-Baker
*    FAA
8.4. Off-axis and tilted elements
Herschelian  2-mirror TCT
* 2* off-axis Newtonian*

9.
REFRACTING OBJECTIVE* Achromat*  Apo 2*
Designing

 
 10. CATADIOPTRIC TELESCOPES
10.1. SUB-APERTURE LENS CATs 2 3 4*
10.2. FULL-APERTURE LENS CATs
10.2.1. Dialytes  Hamilton  Schupmann  Busack/Honders
10.2.2. Schmidt corrector
Schmidt camera 2*   Wright, Baker, Hyperstar*  SN  
SCT
* 2* 3* SC camera
10.2.3. Meniscus corrector
Bowers/Maksutov camera 2  MN
* MCT* 2 3*
10.2.4. Houghton corrector
Houghton camera 2  HN  HCT 2 3 4 5

 11. MISCELLANEOUS OPTICS*

 12. TELESCOPE EYEPIECE* 2* 3* 4*

 13. THE TELESCOPIC EYE*
Aberrations 2 3 4 5 6* Response 2

 14. TELESCOPES Past* ATM* Observatory* Commercial *
  
APPENDIX: Telescope specifications 2 3 4

*Last updated 2022   *2023    *2024


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Web-published on July 14. 2006. by Vladimir Sacek