Question

Question 1: [20 Points]

a) The primary mirror of the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope has a diameter of 2.50 m. Being in orbit, this telescope avoids the degrading effects of atmospheric distortion on its resolution. The Hubble Space Telescope is observing light source coming from a very far away galaxy as shown in the figure above. The scientists are debating whether the light being observed is coming from a single light source or two different light sources.    You as a student of Optics lab are of the opinion that the light is coming from two different sources (perhaps two stars in a different galaxy). Use your knowledge about diffraction through circular aperture to calculate the minimum angle (resolution) between the two light sources assuming that the light you are observing has a wavelength of 650 nm.

b) If the two light sources (stars) in part a) above are at a distance of 200 billion km from the telescope, calculate the distance between the two light sources (stars).

Answer 1

al a) We knew a o 1, 2d .. D D is diameter 2.5m. X10-9 1.22 X 65 2.5 3.172 x 10-7 rad De 65 arc s sec. two light light source (d) b) Distance 6/w - ro 200 x 10 x 10 x 3.172 X10 3 - 7 7 6 : 3 1 1 ) m. cs Scanned with CamScanner