The World's Largest Refracting Telescope Is Operated at the Yerkes

question 141

Short Answer

The world's largest refracting telescope is operated at the Yerkes Observatory in
Wisconsin. It has an objective lens of diameter of 1.02 m. Suppose such an instrument
were mounted on a satellite at an elevation of 300 km above the ground and used to map
surface details. If the telescope is forming images with light of wavelength 550 nm, what is
the minimum separation of two objects on the ground whose separation could be clearly
resolved by this lens?

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Definitions:

Color Vision

The ability of the visual system to distinguish objects based on the wavelengths (or frequencies) of the light they reflect, emit, or transmit.

Brightness Dimension

An aspect of visual perception in which a stimulus appears to emit or reflect more or less light.

Color Solid

A three-dimensional model representing the relationships between different colors, typically showing hue, value (lightness), and saturation (chroma) as the dimensions.

Negative Afterimage

A negative afterimage is a visual illusion that occurs when the eyes are exposed to a brightly lit stimulus, leading to the appearance of a reversed color image when the stimulus is removed.